Ed Underground II: The World Wanderers
by Shelby the Hedgehog
Summary: Sequel to Ed Underground. A year after their adventure came to an end, a new threat shows it's ugly head. But now, they have a even bigger problem: saving not only Earth and Mobius, but all of existence as well!
1. A New Threat Comes to Light

Okay, explaining time: for some reason won't let me update Ed Underground, even though the latest chapter has been finished since Valentine's Day. It was suppose to be a present for you all but they wouldn't let me update. So, I've decided, that instead of sitting down, I'd find an alternative. And that alternative was posting the sequel instead. If you have any questions, just post them in a review and I'll answer them in the next chapter. Now then, on with the show!

**Ed** **Underground** **II:** **The** **World Wanderers**

On a planet far away from our own, in a dimension far away, a great kingdom had undergone a great and perilous situation. For over a decade an evil overlord ruled the land with an iron fist and nearly destroyed everything living within his path. With no one to stop him, the world would have been brought to an end for sure. But what the evil overlord did not expect was the visit of a hero. A hero and his allies from another world had been brought to that world. Banding together with the help of the rightful heirs to the throne, they defeated the evil overlord and his great army before he discovered how to cross over and take over their world and freeing an evil demon to do so. The planet Mobius was grateful for their actions, and named this hero, and his allies, saviors, heroes, Freedom Fighters…and lovers. However, everything, eventually, comes to an end and this hero had to return home with his friends and resumed his life…but none of them knew that this hadn't come to an end just yet…and the legacy of this hero would not end…it had only just begun. This time, the battle would go to the farthest reaches of reality, for the two worlds were not the only ones who knew of these events. No my dear reader, it was known across an entire other world but the way it was known was…well, it was unexpected. But because of this, an even more dangerous force then any of them could imagine could possibly be released into their world, and it would be. And so the story continues…to places none of them would have ever imagined could even exist…or _our_ world for that matter…

--

She watched as Double D crawled into bed. It had been a long day and he was ready for bed. It had been the usual routine day for him: helping Eddy with his ridicules scams before, during, and after school. He yawned and climbed under the covers. As he drifted off, his hand fell upon something on his nightstand: the Medallion of Music.

Her eyes remained on the relic. The old medallion now had a string tied to it, allowing Double D to wear it. But he only wore it under his shirt, for good luck, but also a reminder, a reminder of everything back on Mobius. He had finally decided that there was some things science couldn't explain. And, for some reason, he found life a little easier with that fact. She had discovered that long ago. She continued to watch him through the monitor. It had already been so many years since this whole thing first began, while for him it hadn't even been two years yet, but now, she could never have imagined it would go here.

That was when her communicator started beeping. She picked it up and placed it to her ear, listening to the commander. As she listened, she watched as he slept. He began to toss and turn in bed. Dreams were beginning to plague him, faces from the past were screaming at him and all because they were under her command.

"Double D snap out of whatever you're thinking about and help me get the scam going!"

"Underground, never heard of these guys."

"We're over an open ocean!"

"It states: Welcome to Robotropolis."

"Have you got the 4-1-1?"

"I'm Manic, and these are my sibs, Sonic and Sonia."

"That makes you guys the Sonic Underground!"

"KNUCKLES!"

"Black Fire, Black Hole, and Nova."

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our old friend Shelby from back in the forest?"

"This is Topaz."

"If it wasn't for her, you would have been taken to Robotnik for sure and you would have been robotized. I owe my life to her."

"It's a message from Mother!"

"He feels that if he had been stronger, he could have saved her."

"The Medallion of Music."

"The Crest of Light."

"What should we do?"

"Sonic can't swim!"

"KEVIN KNOCKED SONIC OVER BOARD!"

"HE'S THE FIRST IN LINE FOR THE THRONE!"

"THERE'S ONLY ONE DORK ON THIS WHOLE ISLAND! I HAPPEN TO BE LOOKING AT HIM AND QUITE FRANKLY, I CAN'T STAND HIM!"

"Shadow's stuck in that tree!"

"Go! I'll hold them off!"

"SHUT IT, SUITCASE FACE!"

"Akatora!"

"Smith!"

"Jerome!"

"GARIN!"

"I'm nobody's love!"

"They've been turned into babies!"

"We need to get that ray the doctor used on them to turn back to normal."

"Sleep and remember, my last lullaby, and I'll be with when you dream."

"We can use them to get their freewill back!"

"FERALL!"

"LADY WINDEMERE!"

"UNCLE CHUCK!"

"You can use the Time Stones!"

"Another "Dulcy Landing"."

"Whoa, Unc, you invented it?"

"Sleet and Dingo are going to check this place out."

"Water Style, Water Dragon!"

"This is one of the last few places Robotnik has little interest in."

"Get out of this mansion!"

"Tucker's tried to kill us a number of times."

"CRYSTAL!"

"I was willing to give it all up, if she would stay."

"I'd give it up for just one more day with you."

"You're always in my heart!

"I'm breaking the habit, tonight!"

"Please don't let it be over."

"Tucker has been impersonating Pyro!"

"I CAN'T DO THAT OR DID YOU FORGET THAT MY PARENTS ARE DEAD?"

"Hating your parents is an absolute mistake."

"Sonic and Sonia were weak as babies, Queen Aleena had to be at their side incase something happened."

"I want a mom that'll last forever."

"Goodbye's the saddest word I'll ever feel."

"WHAT IS THAT?"

"Rolf just tried to kill Shadow, for the third time! Then he makes it look like Sonic is the strangler!"

"He is evil! He and his comrades destroyed Rolf's family!"

"Your big bro was one of the bravest Freedom Fighters I'll ever see."

"Welcome to Futago Pass, home to Ohu, and Gajou."

"Zetsu Tendo Battrouga!"

"KYOUSHIRO!"

"Black Doom."

"The legend of the Black Arms."

"I've been controlling them all along."

"Our souls have been trapped here ever since he captured us."

"If she was to ever leave this place, she would most certainly die."

"She protected her little sister to the very end."

"PYRO!"

"I'll kill you…I'll kill you…I'll kill you."

"As long as he is stopped, then my mission is complete."

"Tell Sonia…I love her."

"I love you…with all my heart…Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog."

"I love you too."

"They used the Chaos Emeralds to enter the Super Form!"

"It is because you are the Angle of Fire. You can stop him!"

"We both must promise. We have to live our lives. We need to be happy and as part of the promise we must keep the other in our hearts. Then maybe, someday we can meet again."

"I have come to see you off. You have helped my children, saved our world, and reunited us, and I cannot thank you enough. Maybe one day we will meet again. A new day brings new adventures but for now, rest easy heroes."

"Good bye Double D and good luck!"

"Remember Double D: you promised! You promised!"

The digital alarm clock gave a loud ring, ending the nightmares. Double D yelped, fell out of his bed and hit the hard floor. A tired and pale hand reached up and turned the alarm off before standing.

Double D's slightly messy black hair poked out from behind his head. He carefully fixed his nightcap and a few strands of hair that poked out of place. He had grown almost an inch and a half since that day.

Even though he was taller then those days, he was, still friends with Ed and Eddy but his scams were actually starting to work, because he was learning from his bro. Things didn't really change very much. His room was the same other then the two new computers, one for schoolwork and another for personal stuff such as journals, novels, and the e-mails his parents left him, they had gotten rid of the sticky notes after the little sticky note collapse thing. But there was one MAJOR change: he, Ed and Eddy had formed a band, and they called themselves 'Ed Underground', in honor of their friends from that other world.

Double D made his way to the bathroom, knowing that his clothes for that day were waiting for him. He ran some water into the sink and splashed it onto his face.

"What was that?" he asked himself as he looked into the mirror. "Oh, it was about Mobius again."

It had been almost a year since the day he came home from his journey. He was merely twelve at the time he had gone through an adventure that nearly killed him. Now, as a thirteen-year-old, it seemed like nothing more then a dream, a dream that had turned into a best selling novel, one of the best in the U.S.A.

"But I know it wasn't a dream. I have my memories…the others' memories…the poems …and the Medallion."

Though now wasn't the time, he looked at his digital clock. It read 7:30 AM.

"My word, I'm going to be late for school!"

He quickly pulled on his clothes, grabbed his school supplies, the Medallion, put it around his neck, put it under his shirt, and headed out of his house, not bothering to look for his parents because he knew they were on ANOTHER business trip.

Double D charged from his house and headed for his bus stop. He cast his gaze on the newly bloomed flowers that were covered with rainwater, giving them a peaceful look, and a rainbow that had been left over from the storm the night before, made only the more beautiful with the colors of the rising sun.

"HEY!" a voice cried. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!"

Double D came to a halt when he saw that he almost ran straight into Eddy.

"Oh um, sorry Eddy," Double D quickly said.

It wasn't surprising that Eddy hadn't grown so much as an inch over the past year. His outfits didn't change either. He was still a bit of a moneygrubber but he was getting better but just by a bit.

"Whatever. Just watch it next time," Eddy said.

"Like a clock?" Ed asked.

Like Eddy, Ed hadn't grown that much but he was still frighteningly tall for his age and a big slob but his mother had been struggling to break that habit but so far, no such luck and like always, his I.Q. was so low you had to dig for it. Behind Ed was Sarah. Double D didn't really pay that much attention to her. She was about an inch taller her outfit also remained the same. She had gotten rid of her plastic white earrings and replaced them with golden ones. Next to her was Jimmy who had grown about as much as Sarah and his outfits also remained the same but he wasn't as soft as he had been a year ago. He now rarely had an injury of any sorts but while his body was a little stronger and he was less careless as to getting hurt, he was still a big softy. He was an artist after all. And he still had his Magic Paintbrush but he never used it now.

"Hey guys, sorry we're late!" everyone turned to see Johnny come running from his house, holding Plank over his head the entire way.

"No problem, dude," Nazz said. "So, Double D, why were _you_ late?"

"Oh just a bad dream. More of a nightmare really," Double D explained. "It's nothing."

Johnny hadn't changed much if not at all. He was still the craziest kid in town and was still carrying around Plank. Johnny had grown an inch or two and his outfits remained the same but nothing really changed. As for Kevin, he was still the jerk jock, played all the sports that he liked and the school bully, all straight to the Eds. He was a few inches taller and his outfits remained, like everyone else in town. For some reason, they didn't want to change their clothing to something different. Nazz was a slightly different story. With age she had grown even more attractive, if it was even possible. She now wore jeans that were very similar to her old purple pants. She wore a pearl white tank top over a, jet-black short sleeve t-shirt.

There was a loud squeaking sound. The group looked down the road to see a _goat_ drawn cart. They could see Rolf coming down the road as his goat Victor pulled the buggy.

"HIYA ROLF!" Johnny called.

Like the others, Rolf hadn't changed much. He was taller yes but still a weird farm boy.

"Ah, the underlings," Rolf said.

"Not taking the bus to school again?" Double D asked.

"No. Rolf prefers the old fashioned way like we do in the old country," Rolf replied, still talking in the third person.

They watched as Rolf continued down the road and to the school. Truth be told, they had only been going to school for about a week now, since summer had ended. It was still quite warm since fall had yet to settle in but the possible chances of rain were somewhat higher then clear skies, last night's storm was a fine example of that. The group looked back the other way for the bus. Once it did finally come around the corner, they jumped back before it could splash them with a puddle. Even as this happened, Double D was thinking again, even as he climbed on.

Like every other day, the bus was jam packed with kids that were going wild. Normally it was quieter in the morning since they had less energy but this day they seemed to have a little extra energy. Eddy and Ed took their seats near the back of the bus. Double D on the other hand had chosen to sit in the very back seat. Fewer kids sat back there so it was a little quieter. Double D paid little attention to them as he stared out the window. He could see little of his reflection through the drops of rainwater that had been leftover from the night before and the puddles that the bus had driven through.

It was times like these that Double D was beside himself. He had often found himself asking these questions over and over again. It all seemed like a fantasy these days but in the earlier days, they wrote songs dedicated to them, and how much they missed them. Double D looked ahead out the window. They were coming to the school.

"Maybe school will help get my mind off of things," Double D whispered to himself as he gathered his things.

For some reason, this school day seemed to fly by for everyone, even Eddy. Before any of them knew it, they were in the final period of the day, History. Double D had beaten everyone to class as he always did. He checked his watch. Another good ten if not more minutes till class started. Double D reached into his bag and pulled out his old book, where he kept ideas for his stories. He figured he'd go through them, for old times sake.

RING!

The bell signaled for class to begin. Double D quickly closed his book and put it back in his bag.

"Now, who can name one of men who signed the Declaration of Independence?" the teacher asked after a while. "Yes, Edward?

"Dr. Rush," Double D said.

"Very good, and can you tell the class what else he did?" the teacher asked.

"He discovered the cure for the Black Plaque, and taught people how _not_ to get sick."

"Very good," the teacher said. "You can all learn from Edward."

There was a groan from the whole class.

"Great, another question answered by the smart dork," Kevin grumbled.

"Well Mr. Smart Mouth. I believe you can do your research on the doctor in detention this weekend!" the teacher snapped.

Double D just ignored Kevin and continued looking up the doctor in his book.

RING!

Everyone was out of the room before the teacher could have the chance to give out their homework (although it wasn't needed). The few kids in the classroom however, stopped at the front of the school. Why? Because the drama teacher, one way or another, managed to make it so they could have a play at once! Opening night was just a week before Halloween, and on Halloween night, there would be a huge party. That was going to be the Ed Underground's first big gig but more on that later. Right now they had to get ready for the play, which was a musical. They were pretty confident since they knew most of the play already. It was called Wicked. From what they could tell, it was a different version of The Wizard of Oz, told from the Wicked Which of the West's side of the story.

Eddy was playing the Wizard, Double D played as Fiyero, the love interest of Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch and later to be the Scarecrow, Ed played Doctor Dillamond, the only animal teacher at the school the two girls attended, Nazz somehow ended up playing Elphaba Thropp, the Wick Witch of the West, Sarah ended up playing Nessarose, Elphaba's wheelchair bound younger sister, Jimmy played as Boq, the love interest of Elphaba's younger sister, Johnny was one of the flying monkeys, whom Elphaba had actually _saved _from the Wizard, Kevin was the Tin Man, who was truly Boq after a spell Elphaba's sister did went wrong, his heart began to shrink so Elphaba had to turn him to tin to save him, Rolf was the cowardly lion, who became cowardly after Elphaba saved him from a cage otherwise he would never learn to talk and left to fend for himself, May was Madam Morrible, the head mistress of the school, Marie was Galinda Upland, later to be known as Glinda the Good, and Lee was (heaven forbid) Dorothy.

"Alright, we need to get this right and I want that to be the first time!" Kevin yelled.

"Yeah, yeah, we heard you the first time!" Eddy snapped at him.

"Don't get me started dork!" Kevin warned.

"Um, Kevin?" Nazz spoke up, "Maybe we should practice in the park? We'll have more room for the dancing."

Kevin didn't dare argue. They had found out that the parking lot wasn't enough room to dance on when they had to stop too many times to count so people could get in and out…and they couldn't get Ed to stop dancing on the principal's new car.

"Alright, we'll do this at the park," he grumbled.

Everyone agreed and headed towards the park almost at once. Since the school was located deep in the woods, it was easy to get lost a long the way, at least there was a path. Although, there was a small problem with the path: it was outrageously small and narrow at some points, and it was right next to a steep slope Basically, if you don't pay attention as to where you're going, you could end up sliding down the slope on your butt. And guess who that was. If you guessed Double D, then congrats kid, you win the prize!

He had been so busy trying to learn the lyrics to the song "Dancing Through Life" that he had failed to look where he was going. He had gotten just too close to the edge. His foot slipped on the soft ground, and he slipped.

"Double D!" half the kids cried when they saw him disappear over the slope.

Double D didn't realize what had happened at first, but once he finally stopped, he was able to stop his beating heart. He panted and then looked back up the slope. It slowly faded in as to what had happened.

"Are you alright dude?!" Nazz's voice called from the vegetation.

"I'm not hurt!" he called up.

"Where are you?!" Eddy called.

Double D then took in where he was. He knew this area! It was the bit of woods closest to the park!

"I'm near the park!" he called up, "You guys go on ahead! I'll meet you there!"

"Alright, but be careful, you might have been hurt!" Nazz called.

Double D heard the sound of running feet and they were gone. Seeing no other reason to stay, he began heading towards the park. It practically a hop, skip and a jump away and Double D had arrived there in less then a minute. As usual, the park was abandoned at this time of day. Like the kids, the park hadn't changed at all. The slide, the sandbox, the monkey bars, the girl sitting on the swings…wait, WHAT?!

Double D did a doubt take when he noticed the girl. She was older then him by a few years, maybe almost eighteen or twenty, fifteen at the youngest, it was hard to tell. She had long brown hair that went past her shoulders, while she wore a dark blue long sleeved shirt, despite the fact that it was still practically summer, baggy blue jeans, and white sneakers. He didn't know her from the Cul-da-sac, school, or anywhere. Was she new to Peach Creek? She kept her gaze focused on the ground, until she looked in his direction. She was saying something.

"When all you gotta keep it strong move along, move along, like I know you do. And even when your hope is move along, move along just to make it through."

He was shocked at her face, which had a few small scars on his forehead, cheeks, and chin. He began to wonder if she had been in a fight recently because some of them were still red and healing and there was a white cloth tied around her forehead. That was when he noticed two white wires going into her ears, like a sort of headphone. In her mouth was a sucker stick, but the way she held it was the way a person would hold a cigarette Her eyes were a bluish green, they had intelligence, kindness, wisdom, and the fire of a fighter all rolled into them. She had seen more then he knew at the time and knew more then he ever could have guessed at the time. She pulled the stick out of her mouth revealing a red sucker.

"So, you've arrived," she said. Her voice was sweet yet tough, like the certain kinds of candy she was eating. It had the slightest hint of a southern accent to it.

"Um, pardon me, my name is Eddward but everyone just calls me-"

"Double D," she said before taking the wires out of her ears.

Double D stopped dead in his tracks. How had she known that he was going to say that?

"Um pardon me, but who exactly are you?" he asked.

"You already know someone who shares my name," she said without even looking at his face.

Double D was now confused. He already knew someone who had her name? Then which name was it?

"Are you new?" he asked.

"No, I'm not, but you'll start knowing me," she said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" he asked.

She didn't look at him as she said,

"Your adventure hasn't ended, you know that don't you?" she asked.

"Huh?" Double D questioned.

"You'll know what I mean by tomorrow," she said.

"Double D!"

The voice of the others could be heard coming toward the park. Double D glanced in that direction before looking back at the girl. She was gone! All that was left was the moving swing. Double D gulped slightly. What had just happened?

"Double D!"

He looked to see the others come running into view. Double D looked back to where she had been sitting but there was no sign of her. What was going on?

"Double D!"

The sockhat bearing boy looked at his friends and walked up to greet them, putting the thought of the girl in the back of his mind. In a matter of a few short minutes the kids were practicing for the play. Little did they know, they were being watched and not just them alone, but their friends on Mobius as well, who were also practicing for their own play.

_On Mobius…_

"What is all that noise about?"

Sonia looked out her window to see Manic, pounding his drums for Crystal. It was one of their songs. Sonia couldn't bear to stop them, they just looked so happy together after so many years apart. She looked to the other side of the garden, to see Sonic playing Sally Acorn AKA Sapphire a song. They were just as cute a couple as any.

Sonia smiled, two out of her four brothers were happy, now where was Shadow? She looked beyond a wall of bushes and saw him and Shelby on a swing under the cherry blossom tree. If there was ever any true love in the world, it was the two of them. And at the other side of the garden was Tails, simply enjoying life. After their friends from Earth left, Tails had become part of their family, after their mother adopted him.

Yep, life for this princess was perfect…well, almost perfect. She still missed Eddy. Bartleby was now with someone else, Stripes was now trying to get his valley back to it's former glory, but Knuckles and Locke stopped by every now and again but usually to do business.

Sonia wasn't the only one missing their friends from Earth. Nova still missed Double D, she thought about him everyday but it didn't help much. At least she was much happier with her new life working in the palace because she got to be close to her friends. Nova had also adopted Tune, so he and Tails always had someone to play with.

Sonia was brought back to reality by a small beeping.

"Huh?"

She looked at her wrist it was her watch. She gasped! It was already that late?

"GUYS!" she called. "It's time to come in! We have to practice for the show tonight!"

"Coming!" Manic said, his drums disappeared into his medallion, and gave Crystal a kiss before running inside.

"Be right there!" Sonic called, his guitar turned back into his medallion, kissed Sapphire and ran back inside.

"I'm coming!" Shadow called in a rather annoyed voice but gave Shelby a kiss all the same and Chaos Controlled inside.

"On my way!" Tails called and took flight.

Sonic had grown in the last year, so he was a little taller. His eyes were now green, and his fur now shined unlike before because the constant fighting against Robotnik had caused stress and filth to build up on all of them but now that he was gone, their true colors shown through and his sneakers now had golden buckles on them.

Sonia had grown as well so she was slightly taller. Her eyes were now a mix of purple and pink, a good look for her and her fur now shined. She now wore a white dress with pinkish purple pockets, belt, and she had replaced her long dark gloves with plain white ones with pink purple rings on them, and sneakers that were pink at the toes and white at the heals.

Manic had also grown, and was also a little taller. His eyes were now a bright sky blue, but it seemed to fit him, the spikes on his cuffs were now metal, making him an even bigger threat in a fight and his fur also shined unlike before.

Shadow had grown the least of his siblings but he didn't really care. His eyes were now bright red, and his fur also shined more now.

Tails had grown the most of the five, so he was now just a little bit shorter then them, maybe a little taller if you included his now very large ears. His fur was now much brighter, a bright orange and yellow mix and his eyes were now a brilliant blue. His three bangs had also grown quite a bit, now they went up a few inches then made a turning point and stuck out more.

Sonia smiled, her life may not have been perfect, but it was shy of it. As she began to leave her bedroom, she spotted a few picture frames on her nightstand. The first was a picture of everyone all their friends from their days of being Freedom Fighters. Next to it was a picture of their friends from Earth, next to that one was a picture of Eddy's older brother, simply known as Hotshot and the final one was of Eddy himself.

Sonia walked over to it, picked it up, and gently kissed the picture.

"Oh Eddy, I wish you could see Mobius now. You and the others would be so amazed," she sighed.

"Yo, Sonia, you comin' or what?" Sonic called.

"I'm coming!" she called before sighing, "I guess I'll see you later, Eddy," and she kissed the picture one last time before going down stairs.

Sonia found her brothers in the performance hall, already getting ready.

"What took ya, sis?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, just remembering," she replied before touching her medallion, bringing out her keyboard.

"'Bout what?" Manic asked.

"Our friends from Earth," she said.

"Oh," Manic sadly replied.

"Man, those guys really pulled us out of the fire a bunch of times," Sonic said.

"Yeah, mostly when we were turned into babies," Manic said.

"Yeah, and getting you back to normal," Tails said.

"Yeah, well nothing lasts forever," Shadow said, strumming a few cords on his guitar.

"Well it was fun while it lasted," Manic said sadly.

"C'mon guys, we've gotta practice our lines for the play tonight," Sonic said.

"Why bother? We were there when it all happened! We're just playing ourselves, why bother?" Manic asked.

"Do you really remember everything so clearly?" Sonia asked.

"Clear as crystal," he then realized what he said. "No pun intended."

"Whatever," Sonic said.

"Are we here to practice or not?" Shadow asked, rather annoyed.

"Alright, alright," Manic said.

"Which scene should we do?" Tails asked.

"We're **NOT** doing Shelby's death, I can tell you that!" Shadow snapped.

Shadow's sibling's just sighed and shook their heads. Shadow _never_ wanted to do that scene, but it was probably for the best, they didn't want to end up running from a Chaos Blast or a Chaos Spear. Shadow only allowed them to play the song that would be playing during the scene and nothing more.

"How about when they left?" Tails asked.

"We practiced that scene yesterday!" Manic reminded him.

"How about the scene where Sanctuary fell?" Tails asked.

"Day before yesterday," Manic said.

"When the Black Jewel went down?"

"Day before that!"

"When we found Freedom City?'

"Day before that."

"Where we fought Black Doom?"

"Day before that!"

"Well what scene do you want to do?" Sonic demanded.

Manic opened his mouth to speak but,

"Other then when you found Crystal," Sonia said.

Manic closed his mouth.

"Might I make a suggestion?" Sonic asked.

"What?" they asked.

"How about the ending song? You know, where we play Someday the second time, at the end."

"Sounds good to me," Manic said.

"Alright, let's do it to it!" Sonia said.

"Heh, haven't heard that in a long time," Sonic chuckled almost sadly.

"Let's just do it already," Shadow groaned.

"Fine," Sonic said and they began.

**Sonic: "There's something missing!**

**Something's not quite right!**

**And I can feel it calling, to me every night!"**

**Sonia: "A little voice inside, tells me someone is out there.**

**And I must never give up, searching everywhere."**

**Sonia, Manic and Tails: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonic and Shadow: "We are gonna be together!"**

**Sonia, Manic and Tails: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonic and Shadow: "Life will be so much better!"**

**Sonia, Manic and Tails: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonic and Shadow: "We will built a bond no one can break!"**

**Sonia, Manic and Tails: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonic and Shadow: "No more dark clouds above!"**

**Sonia, Manic and Tails: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonic and Shadow: "United in the light of love!"**

**Sonia, Manic and Tails: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonic and Shadow: "The story can only end one way: we'll be together-"**

**All five: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonia, Manic, and Tails: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonic and Shadow: "WE ARE GONNA BE TOGETHER!"**

**Sonia, Manic and Tails: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonic and Shadow: "LIFE WILL BE SO MUCH BETTER!"**

**Sonia, Manic and Tails: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonic and Shadow: "WE WILL BUILD A BOND NO ONE CAN BREAK, yeah."**

**Sonia, Manic, and Tails: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonic and Shadow: "NO MORE DARK CLOUDS ABOVE!"**

**Sonia, Manic and Tails: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonic and Shadow: "UNITED IN THE LIGHT OF LOVE!"**

**Sonia, Manic and Tails: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonic and Shadow: "THE STORY CAN ONLY END ONE WAY: WE'LL BE TOGETHER-"**

**All five: "SOMEDAY!"**

**Sonic and Shadow: "Someday! Be together-"**

**All five: "SOMEDAY!"**

Sonia sighed when the song ended.

"You, I don't know why but playing that song…it makes me sad," she sighed.

"Yeah, I guess it makes you think more about the guys from Earth, huh?" Manic said.

"Yeah, I guess so," Sonic agreed.

"C'mon guys," Shadow said. "The show is tonight and we have to get everything down."

"Alright lil' bro!" Sonic said. "Let's hit it."

The five siblings continued practicing their parts for the play, but still they were a little sad, the longing for their friends growing as their memories returned.

However, like their friends from Earth, they were being watched…

_Inter-dimensional Protection HQ, a few hours prior…_

The group of boys gripped the edges of their chairs, scared out of their wits. The chair they were staring at was facing the window but they were still scared. You'd need a chainsaw to cut through the tension that hung heavily in the air.

"So!" the sharp cry came from the chair, making the boys jump.

The chair spun around extremely fast, making the boys even more nervous. Shelby Workman, nicknamed Rush, was clearly steamed by the way she bat her brown hair out of her eyes.

"So…" she started again, only in a slightly calmer voice, but they could tell that it was sickly sweet. "You thought it would be funny to sneak into the Underworld while Hades was gone, only to end up being caught when he came home early. So I send Mattie-boy in to save you. Consider yourselves lucky, if I haven't known you lot for as long as I have, I would have sent someone else in. Now, I have you returned and Zeus fries Hades, all's fine because you weren't hurt, right?"

The four boys didn't dare open their mouths, afraid that they would answer wrong.

"Well, if you think everything is fine, then you're WRONG!" she slammed her hands on her desk, making them jump again. "The Omochoa that you brought with you, against his will mind you, made a shocking recording. It revealed that in your desperate attempt to escape that you knocked over a canister of souls."

Now they knew they were in for it. Soul Canisters were meant to hold in evil spirits, and dead villains, so their ghosts wouldn't come back to haunt the people who had killed them. But if they were knocked over, the spirit or spirits it was holding could escape and if they did, there was a chance they could get their body and who knows what chaos would break out if that happened?

"And you know what else? It was a certain evil hedgehog and monster's spirit that escaped. Just consider yourselves lucky it wasn't Black Doom. But now we believe they're already getting new bodies! If that happens, then dear lord knows what will happen!"

Eric, a boy with black hair, and looked Chinese when he wasn't, was shaking, even though he had known her for longer then he could remember, the same for her.

Jacob, a cubby boy with short blonde hair shivered at her wrath and her sharp eyes.

Chris, a thin boy with dirty blonde hair showed little fear, but most of it was hidden.

Kenny, a small and skinny boy with dark brown hair was just struggling to stay in his seat, what he lacked in size, he made up for in being hyper, but turn on a TV and he'll just sit there and stare.

"You're lucky that you're my little brother's friends or you'd be facing the commander instead of me!"

_That_ was a fate worse then death.

"Now, for your punishment…"

The boys shivered. They had been in a lot of trouble before, but they never got used to her sharp snaps. And now they were going to be punished.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The boys were nervous now, Rush's communicator was going off, and that meant the commander could have come up with a punishment.

"Rush here," she said, placing it to her ear. "Uh huh… What? Yeah, okay… I'll be down there as soon as I can."

She placed down the communicator and looked at the four boys.

"Well, you've done some pretty stupid things in the past but this one takes the cake. Daring each other into the Digital World, trying to steal the Keyblades, sneaking into Casinopolis, blowing up Level Seven, using the Talismans for your own gain, trying to steal the Devil's Fruit so you could get its "curse", and then some, but THIS is, without a doubt, the most idiotic thing you've ever done!"

The sudden out burst was starting to make them shiver. Oh what cruel punishment awaited them?

"And if it weren't due to recent events, I would have you four punished so fast it would make your heads spin. So until then, you're punishment will be postponed."

The four boys were shocked. They didn't know if they should be relieved or worried. The fact that their punishment was being postponed was only because an even worse threat was looming in the shadows of any universe. Kenny nearly fainted, while Jacob pinched himself to see if he were dreaming, Eric fell out of his chair in shock, and Chris yelled, "What?"

"Commander's orders," the brunette growled. "Now get out of here!"

The four boys slowly got out of their seats, but it wasn't nearly fast enough for Rush.

"Well? What are you waiting for? GET MOVING!"

The four boys tripped over themselves as they tried to get away.

Once they were gone, Rush walked over to the window and tapped on the floor with her foot. The circular elevator then jumped a bit before retreating into the floor below, slowly turning as it did. She went down about thirty feet before moving forward. The room was strange indeed. There were floating bits of floor with furniture on them, and people working. The walls were blue, white, and silver. It was indeed a strange room. As she went, she passed several characters from many Zones.

"Mornin' Rush," a ten-year-old boy with a pink hat and shirt said from his station.

"Timmy," she replied, "You haven't seen Matt have you?"

"At his desk," the boy said, pointing with his thumb.

"Thank you," she said and continued on her way.

After a few minutes she had arrived at another floating floor with a desk on it, two walls, a chair, a computer, and upon the desk was a lot of junk, making it a big mess. Sitting in the chair was a black and green hedgehog that looked almost exactly like Shadow the Hedgehog, but he had green where Shadow had red and a small 'X' shaped scar on his forehead. He was her younger brother, Matthew Workman.

At the moment, his feet were on the desk, his hands behind his head, as music was blasted from the headphones over his ears. He tapped his foot to the music and nodded his head.

Rush wasn't pleased with her brother in the least. She spotted his music player on his desk and got a devious smile. She placed her finger near the volume control and turned it from level ten to level fifty. That woke him up.

"WWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The black and green hedgehog threw the headphones from his head in shock, music now playing loudly from them.

"What's the big idea?" he demanded.

"Get up you monkey," Rush said. "The commander wants to talk to us."

"Who are you calling a monkey, my Chinese Zodiac animal is the rat! _You_ are the monkey!" He asked.

"Move it, Matt, or else."

"Or else what?"

"Let's see, I could send you to Cool-Cool Mountain, or I could have you come down with Bean Fever and have you turn into a bean, or I could have you water the Fire Flowers, or I could send you to the Neutral Zone."

"ACK! Anything but that!"

"Then come on!" Rush snapped, climbing back onto the hover disk.

Her brother followed suit onto the floating disk at once.

"Where's Nick?" she asked.

"Where else? At his desk playing his old consoles." Matthew said.

Another minute and they were at the desk of a teenage boy. Unlike his sister, Matthew wasn't a teenager yet, making it harder for him to go on missions.

"Hey Nick, we've got work to do!" Matt said, standing in front of him.

No response.

"Nick? Snap out of it! Blink or something you're scaring me!" Matt said. "What's with this guy?"

"Sitting in front of a TV for extended periods of time can induce a trance-like state, and even rewrite a person's brain." Rush said, going through the games Nick had.

"Brain? WHAT BRAIN?!" Matt cried.

"Nick, get off that old thing, we have work to do," Rush said, pulling the plug to the old console.

"TV go dark!" he said.

"Have you been hanging around with Sheen again?" Rush asked.

"What?"

The teenage boy had short cut brown hair that was slightly messy.

"Well that solves that question," Matthew shrugged.

"Indeed. Now Nick, get up, we've got a new mission."

"Okay," he said, walking onto the disk and it took off. "Where are we headed?"

"The commander wanted to see us before we leave," Rush answered.

After a few minutes of going in a straight line, they arrived at a corridor, with many doors along the sides. They were the offices for only the highest ranked in the business. The threesome walked for about ten minutes before they reached the end of the hallway. There were double doors there, and they led to the commander's office.

"Let's hurry, you know he hates waiting," Rush said.

The two boys nodded and followed her in.

"Rush, Nick, and Matthew reporting for duty, Sir," Rush said before all three gave a salute.

The large leather chair beyond the maple wood desk didn't move. It only continued to face the window, showing the cosmic inter state and galactic roads.

"Commander?" Rush asked after a minute. "Sir?"

After another minute, a yellow dog peeked out from behind the chair. He was yellow with a strangely shaped head, black floppy ears, a long thin tail, and a green collar.

"Pluto?" Rush asked.

"What's he doing here?" Matthew asked. "Shouldn't he be helping King Mickey?"

"Hey, what's that in his mouth?" Nick asked.

Rush stepped forward to see.

"It's an envelope!" she replied.

"What's it say, what's it say?" Matthew chanted.

"Let's find out," Rush said, taking it from the dog.

Rush carefully opened the envelope and pulled out a paper.

"It's from the commander!" she exclaimed.

"What?" the two boys cried.

"It says he has something important to take care of. It also says that we have twenty-four hours to get ready for the mission and get there. The guys at transport will know where to send us," Rush quickly explained.

"We better hurry, I don't wanna end up on the other end of one good side," Matthew said.

"That makes two of us," Nick agreed.

"Yeah, let's motor," Rush agreed.

The three quickly left the office.

_Three hours prior to present time…_

"Get those transports up and ready!" Matt said.

"We're trying," a bald African-American boy wearing a blue sweater-vest snapped.

"Then pick up the pace, AJ!" the other boy said, trying to keep his spiky red hair out of his eyes.

"Hey, I'd do better if you pulled your weight around, Izzy!"

"Both of you stop it!" Matt snapped. "Now get these pods working!"

"Yes sir!" they said and got back to work.

"Guys, hurry up!" Matt said as Nick climbed in. "Where's Rush?"

"She has to get her weapons and transform," Nick said.

"WHAT? We don't have that kind of time!" Matt cried. "I'll get her!"

Matt ran as fast as he could from the pods and into the Transformation Room.

"Rush c'mon!" he snapped.

"Hold on, just let me get my weapons," the brunette said, taking more off the wall and shoving them into her backpack.

"We don't have that kind of time!" Matt cried.

"Fine, just let me transform and then-"

"No, I mean we really don't have that kind of time! Nick's already in the transport pod!" Matt said.

"And why wasn't I informed of this?"

"Well, I thought you were already done, so I figured-"

"Excuse me but a lady has to pack a few things!"

"Whatever, we've gotta move!"

Matt forgot all else, grabbed his sister's wrist, and ran as fast as he could back to the transport pod. That landed just as soon as it activated, sending them to where they needed to be.

_Present time…_

The teenage girl came through the woods like a monkey would, swinging on the branches and all.

"There she is!" Matt cried.

The teenager landed in front of the two on her feet.

"What you find out?" Matt asked, slightly suffering from the beginning of a sugar rush.

"They're completely clueless," she said as she walked a few steps forward.

"Any of the relics behaving strangely?" Nick asked.

"If they are, then I haven't been watching them all day long," the teenager said as sarcasm dripped from her voice.

"Weird, you think that the return of two of the mot powerful beings in existence would send those things off the wall," Nick said.

"You're telling me," the brunette said as she checked a device on her wrist, "The wave lengths are off the charts, and the veil's stability is that of Bean the Dynamite and that little weirdo with the cereal problem."

"Let's just wrap this up already," Matt said, "I've got Bean doing a job and I promised to pay him in cupcakes!"

"Right," his sister said, in a voice that made it hard to tell if she was paying attention or not.

They had been in this line of work longer then anyone else so they were used to the strangest of things by now and just expected this to be another job that they would finish in a week. However, they were unaware as to this adventure and how it would twist and turn nor how long it would take


	2. She's a Rebel

**Chapter two: She's a Rebel**

After a long and hard day at school, the Eds were finally able to relax in Ed's basement for a bedroom. Or at least, trying to. Mostly they were waiting for what they had waiting for, for the past month: Robot Rebel Ranch marathon, uncut and un-censored.

But the problem was it wouldn't come on for another four hours. At least it was Friday and they didn't have to worry about being trouble for staying up late. So what did they do to kill the time? Simple. They practiced their music.

To say the least, Ed was much better on guitar, keyboard, and drums then he ever was on the violin, by a long shot. Normally they would rotate between who was playing what depending on the song and who sang it the best and if that one had some sort of connection to it. Right now, they were getting ready to play a song called "She's a Rebel". Eddy was going to sing it because it reminded him so much of Sonia.

"Ready boys?" Eddy asked, picking up his guitar that was in the shape of a dollar symbol.

"Ready as we'll ever be, Eddy," Double D answered, preparing his keyboard.

"Let's do it!" Ed cried from his dirty drums.

**Eddy: "She's a rebel.**

**She's a Saint.**

**She's a salt of the earth.**

**And she's dangerous.**

**She's a rebel.**

**Vigllante.**

**Missing ling on the brink**

**Of destruction.**

**From Chicago to Toronto**

**She's the one that they**

**Call old whatsername?**

**She's a symbol**

**Of resistance**

**And she's holding on my**

**Heart like a hand-grenade.**

**Is she dreaming**

**What I'm thinking?**

**Is she the mother of all bombs**

**Gonna detonate?**

**Is she trouble**

**Like I'm trouble?**

**Make it double**

**Twist of fate**

**Or a melody that**

**Sings the revolution**

**The dawning of our lives.**

**She brings this liberation**

**That I just can't define**

**Nothing comes to mind.**

**She sings the revolution**

**The dawning of our lives.**

**She brings this liberation**

**That I just can't define**

**Nothing comes to mind.**

**She's a rebel.**

**She's a saint.**

**She's a salt of the earth.**

**And she's dangerous.**

**She's a rebel.**

**Vigallante.**

**Missing link on the brink**

**Of destruction.**

**She's a rebel, She's a rebel, She's a rebel, And she's dangerous.**

**She's a rebel, She's a rebel, She's a rebel, And she's dangerous."**

"Sonia would be proud Eddy," Double D smiled.

"Yeah, she would," Eddy said, placing the guitar on its stand. "What time is it anyway?"

Double D looked at his watch before saying,

"Five minutes until the movies start!"

"Let's get ready, and make it quick!" Eddy said.

The three boys scrambled to get everything ready. Each had brought all sorts of junk food from home just for this they had even managed to have their parents to buy them some jawbreakers.

Once everything was set up, the three boys brought up the three armchairs Ed's dad had put down there for them with the junk food either in their laps or on the arms of the chairs.

"Gentlemen, we're living large," Eddy said as the intro for the first movie came on.

Ed shoved a jawbreaker into his mouth while Double D took a sip of Slug-U-La Cola.

For the next hour, the Eds enjoyed themselves, enjoying the robot carnage. But they failed to notice a pair of eyes that were that of a dragon's staring at them from the only window in the room.

"I shall have my revenge," he said in an icy cold voice.

"Of course my liege, but to make it all the more delicious, we need to wait or them to go back," a female with icy blue eyes spoke.

"And then, we will both have our revenge."

However, unseen by the two creatures, someone was watching THEM through a pair of binoculars. She then turned towards Ed's house, and changed the settings on the binoculars, allowing her to see the three boys all three pairs of eyes were focused on the TV.

"Okay, they've got the TV on," Rush said into her walkie-talkie. "Cameras on Mobius ready?"

"Matthew here: Cameras set and ready to roll!" a static-filled reply said.

"Nick, you hotwired the dish?"

"Satellite dish hot wired and ready to receive signal, chief!" a much more clear reply said.

"Okay, now I just to blast those instruments with this ray gun, but I need to have those two creeps get out of the way first."

"Hurry, the show starts in twenty minutes!"

"I know that!"

"Is all of this really necessary?"

"Yes. Or do you want to risk everything with chance?"

"…"

"Well…?"

"…No."

Rush had to aim carefully. With those two in between her and her target it was going to be close.

"Ready…aim…FIRE ONE!" she cried and fired.

The invisible laser flew through the night air silently, through Ed's window, and hit its target: Double D's guitar, keyboard, and drums.

"FIRE TWO!"

This time it hit Eddy's keyboard, guitar, and drums.

"FIRE THREE!"

And this time it hit Ed's drums, keyboard, and guitar.

"Yes! Now to get rid of those two."

She aimed the gun at the female and fired. The dark figure jumped just as the laser hit the ground.

"There's someone here," she quickly said.

"I'll be waiting, and I expect no failure," the dark male voice growled and he disappeared into the ground.

"Of course, Master," the female said before jumping into a tree and vanishing into thin air but in her place, were patches of ice, where she had touched the ground.

"Hit it!" Rush said.

Nick plugged in a wire to Ed's satellite dish and Matt activated the cameras.

The TV in Ed's room soon became full of static.

"NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ed cried.

"What in the world happened?" Double D cried.

"Work TV, WORK!" Eddy cried.

"Wait, something is forming!" Double D pointed.

The static disappeared and showed what appeared to be a theater with people waiting to see some sort of play.

"What is this?" Eddy asked.

The camera then shifted, closing in on the title above the stage.

"Ed Underground?" Eddy asked. "HEY! SOMEONE STOLE THE NAME OF **OUR** BAND!"

Someone then held up a program to the camera, which told the story.

"Follow the adventures of the their majesties, the royal Hedgehogs triplets, in their adventure to bring our world back to the way it once was. Named after their friends, Ed, Double D, and Eddy, Ed Underground features actual characters from the actual adventure!" Double D read.

"Wait, how do these people know about what we did on Mobius?" Eddy asked.

"Eddy, I think we're somehow getting signals from Mobius," Double D said, shocked.

"So, what you're saying is: that we're actually seeing something that's going on in Mobius right now?" Eddy asked.

"It would seem that way Eddy," Double D said.

There was a moment of silence.

"WE HAVE TO TELL EVERYONE!"

For the next minute, the Eds were using Ed's phone to call the other's over, or running from door to door to get them. Ed even went so far as to accidentally calling the Kanker Sisters.

In less then two minutes, the entire cul-da-sac was in Ed's room.

"Are you sure about this?" Kevin asked.

"Of course we're sure!" Eddy cried.

"Hey, the show's starting!" Johnny said.

The TV darkened with the room and something familiar walked on stage, or rather, someone.

"QUEEN ALEENA!"

She was quite a sight. She wore a large dark blue cloak over her body but had left the hood off. Her now yellow eyes seemed to sparkle under the spotlight.

"Thank you all for coming to see the show. As for why we're holding it is that we're hoping to raise enough money for a new orphanage and if you could find it in your hearts please donate some money on your way out after the show. This play is also to celebrate the long awaited down fall of Dr. Robotnik, that the Freedom Fighters dreamed of for so very long. And it is also to remember the many allies we lost along the way. Please enjoy the show."

The queen bowed and walked off stage.

"I think I'm going to faint," Nazz said.

The curtains lifted, showing a building similar to the birth home of the Sonic Underground.

"There was a time when Robotropolis was beautiful," Queen Aleena narrated. "It was then a peaceful city known as, Mobotropolis."

It then showed a sort of robotic blimp flying over the stage.

"But just after my children were born, the evil Dr. Robotnik used his technology…to turn our world…into a place of terror."

It now showed the city becoming the dark place of doom the Eds had found it in over a year ago.

"As the source of Dr. Robotnik's money, the aristocrats were left to pay, while our people were roboticized…and became slaves."

Now it showed aristocrats wandering the streets, with roboticized people doing all the work.

"Our royal family was outlawed, a price placed on our heads."

Now it showed someone placing wanted posters all over the city.

"Then the Oracle of Delphius revealed a prophecy to me."

The scene somehow quickly changed to show the Oracle's cave, where three baby baskets rested, the queen and the oracle.

"Someday, you will reunite with your children to become the Counsel of Four," the Oracle spoke "…and over throw Robotnik. But there is a price, your highness."

"For the prophecy to be fulfilled, I had to give up my babies."

It then showed Queen Aleena having to give up her children. After that, it showed Sonic finding Sonia and Manic, their losses, and their training.

"Now, we must go ahead, to a time closer to us. It all started a year ago, in a world much like our own and at the same time, different…"

The curtains closed and opened again, showing a chameleon looking at a map.

"DOUBLE D!"

They looked to see a bumblebee not too far away.

"Hey, that's me!" Eddy cried.

"They're acting out our adventure with them." Double D said.

They continued watching, amazed as to how dead on it was. They soon discovered it was their actual friends up on stage as themselves. It made them happy to know that their friends were alive and well. They were so busy watching that they didn't notice the person at the window, laid on her belly with the window opened, watching as well.

As the play reached its end after the kids left, the royal siblings brought out their instruments. They watched as they played their first song "Someday", one last time. When the song ended, the curtains closed, and the play ended.

Everyone was silent for a moment, staring at a static-filled screen.

"How did that happen?" Eddy asked.

"Very good question, Eddy," Double D said.

_Because I was responsible, in more ways then one,_ the brunette at the window thought.

"Hm?"

The sound of an engine caught her ear.

"Ah, puzzle piece number two has arrived."

She knocked on the window and ducked behind some bushes.

"What the?" Eddy cried at the quick knock.

"Who could that be?" Double D asked.

Eddy stood on Ed's table to get a better look. He looked to see a dark figure running behind the house.

"Hey, hold it!" he called, climbed out of the window, and took chase.

He ran until he was in the front yard. There was no sign of the person anywhere.

That was when he noticed a car in his driveway. An all too familiar car was now parking.

"No way," Eddy whispered, his eyes as big as dinner plates.

The others had managed to catch up to him.

"Did you catch him, Eddy?" Double D asked.

"Dude, is something wrong?" Nazz asked, snapping her fingers in front of Eddy's eyes.

Double D was the first to notice the car and froze.

"E-E-E-Eddy, is that what I think it is?" Double D stuttered.

"Yeah," Eddy squeaked.

"Who is it?" Kevin demanded.

"…My brother," Eddy simply said.

Kevin looked like he was ready to faint.

The man then noticed them.

"Well, well, this is some welcome home party," he said.

Eddy quickly shook his head, snapping himself out of his shock.

"Don't give me that!" Eddy said. "Why didn't you ever tell us?"

"Tell you what?"

"Aw c'mon! I sent you a letter saying that we knew!"

"I have no idea what you're saying."

"We know about Mobius…Hotshot."

The man was taken by surprise.

"Huh, well, I believe ya now," Hotshot said. "So, who'd you meet?"

"Sonic, Sonia, Manic, Tails, Nova, Tune, Shadow, The Oracle, Queen Aleena, Robotnik, Sleet, Dingo, Cyrus, Ferral, Lady Windemere, Sir Charles, Shelby, Topaz, and a whole lot of other people!" Eddy said.

"Guess you were telling the truth."

"Heck yeah! I also know about your love life there, and Sonia is mine now!"

"You wish!" Hotshot said.

From where she was watching in the bushes, the brunette shook her head.

"Are all older and younger brothers like this?" she wondered. "Hm? Where'd Rolf go?"

Her gaze rested upon the farm boy's house, which now had a very large picket fence around it and a mote that Rolf was now filling.

"Not again," she groaned.

"CHICKEN!" Ed cried, running to the chickens. "PETTHECHICKEN! PETTHECHICKEN! PETTHECHICKEN!"

"Oh brother," she slapped her face.

"Eddy," Double D said. "You don't think that your brother's return has anything to do with what we just saw, do you?"

"What did you see?" Hotshot asked.

"Just before you arrived, we somehow got a broadcast from Mobius, showing a play that the others were in, and they were doing OUR adventure with them!" Eddy explained.

"Oh, really?" Hotshot asked.

"Yes, I am curious about it," Double D said.

_We don't have time for this_, the brunette thought. _We need to get them through the veil, now!_

"Is stage two ready?" Nick asked over the walkie-talkie.

"Forget stage two! Go straight to stage three!" she replied sharply.

"Why?"

"They're taking too much time!"

"Alright, if you think it'll work."

"AUGH! I'm coming over there!"

As the Peach Creek kids pulled Rolf and Ed out of the picket fence, a song could be heard. The song went like this:

**Female singer: "Strange world.**

**Welcome to: a different world.**

**It's something new,**

**And it might scare you.**

**So come on in,**

**Check it out!**

**Let it begin**

And see what it's about!"

"What in Heaven's name is that?" Double D asked.

"It's comin' from the Lane!" Kevin said.

"You are right, Kevin," Rolf said, still holding onto the fence as if it were life itself.

"Why do I get the feeling that whoever is playing that music knows about…you know?" Nazz said.

"I have to agree with you Nazz, you must investigate at once," Double D said and let his ears lead the way. All the while, the music continued to play…

**Female singer: "Livin' in a strange world!**

**Another kind of normal.**

**Livin' in a strange world.**

**Anything can happen.**

**Livin' in a strange world.**

**A little magical.**

**Livin' in a stra-a-a-a-ange world.**

**Who are you?**

**When darkness falls?**

**The rising moon,**

**It's haunting you.**

**There is more,**

**Then what you see.**

**Under the spell:**

**A new reality!"**

"Is it me or does it seem like whoever is playing the music is moving?" Eddy asked.

"I think you're right, Eddy," Double D said.

"Then it must be a radio or something," Nazz said.

"Probably, kid," Hotshot said.

"But, what if this is some kind of kidnapping attempt?' Jimmy whimpered.

"Don't worry, Jimmy, we'll be alright," Sarah said.

"Follow the music, follow the music," Ed chanted.

"Wonder what's going on around here," Kevin said.

"We'll find out soon enough," Johnny said.

"Johnny the Wood-boy is correct, and thus, WE MUST KEEP RUNNING AS IF FOR OUR MISERABLE LIVES!" Rolf shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Yeah, what he said," Marie agreed.

"Shut up and keep running," Lee said.

"Pick up the pace guys," May complained as she ran past her sisters.

The music continued…

**Female singer: "Livin' in a strange world.**

**Another kind of normal.**

**Livin' in a strange world.**

**Anything can happen.**

**Livin' in a strange world.**

**A little magical.**

**Livin' in a stra-a-a-a-ange world.**

**I'm livin' in a strange world.**

**Never know what you're going to find here.**

**Never know what you might see.**

**Never know what's goin' on here.**

**If you wanna go,**

**Then follow me.**

**Don't look back.**

**Was that a shadow chasin' you?**

**Or was it all inside your mind?**

**There's no tellin' what the night will do to you.**

**Who you gonna find**

**Just what's inside?**

**Livin' in a strange world.**

**Another kind of normal.**

**Livin' in a strange world.**

**Anything can happen.**

**Livin' in a strange world.**

**A little magical.**

**Livin' in a stra-a-a-a-ange worl.**

**I'm livin' in a strange world."**

With that the strange song ended.

"Where'd they go?" Eddy asked.

"I'm not sure," Double D said.

Just up ahead, the brunette was still running.

"Nick, is the portal up and running yet?" she asked.

"Almost," the reply said.

"GET it running, I have them hot on my tail!" she yelled.

"WHAT?! Why didn't you say so?"

"Forget it, just get that stupid portal up!"

"Fine, fine."

The girl reached into her pocket and pulled out a smaller version of a Power Ring.

"Cruisin' and bruisin' time!" she said, "Up, over and gone!"

She suddenly increased in speed, but staying at a slow enough pace for the others to follow.

_Inter-dimensional Protection HQ…_

"Alright people, listen up!"

Everyone looked up at the stage where fifteen-year-old Cyan stood. The pale girl glanced around, making sure all eyes were on her. Floating next to her was a tiny robot, who was only there to stop any funny business if such actions happened.

"Okay, there is one thing we must make clear before anything happens: you're all from different dimensions, although it might be obvious with me!" the girl said.

Whispers were being sent up and down and the rows while they looked at each other. They acted as though just by looking at each other would be able to tell them apart.

"What I mean by dimensions," Cyan said as she swished her tail, "is this: You all know of the many different dimensions we have reason to believe will be forcibly pulled into a mission three of our agents have already begun. From comic books to newspaper strips, from classic novels to graphic novels, from plays to movies, from video games to TV shows, and then some.

"On top of that, forget calling the different versions of the Serias you may encounter by the nicknames you're acquainted with in your own world, such as SatAM, SunPM, StH, OVA, Comic, FMA, EENE, SU, TMNT, Jetterz, and such, because it would be far too confusing here. We already have a set of nicknames set up for you all if you wish to communicate with each other. The list will be included in the virtual map that you all have already received."

Upon saying that, a few looked at the tiny PDA systems they had received, others looking at the list already.

"Now, there are two different sections of the Freedom Zone that you can live in during your stay here: one governed by Matthew Ross Workman, but he'd like it better if you called him Flame. But his sister, who governs the other section, Shelby Elizabeth Workman AKA Rush, never does. Believe me, you don't want to call them by their real names to their faces unless you know them extremely well. And lemme tell ya, if I didn't tell you, you never would have known those two were related to each other, let alone siblings. Heck, you wouldn't even know they're from the same plain of existence. That's how different they can be at times, but they can agree on some things. But enough of that for now, and let me tell you about the two sections.

"Unless you want a boyfriend, stay away from Matthew's section. The girls always fall in love with him, believe me, he's always being chased when he's in human form. I guess blonde hair and blue eyes are popular these days. He's always going through girlfriends like socks. Heck, he had already had eleven girlfriends when he actually reached eleven years old. So ladies, you might wanna think carefully before going there, and boys, don't let your girlfriend go there if you don't wanna risk losing her. He also does all sorts of crazy things, and so do those who inhabit that section, so you might wanna be careful. But it's your tongue you don't have to be careful with. You can get away with saying anything you want in that section, and he'll probably join in if he finds interest. He also allows all sorts of practical jokes, no matter the costs unless they're terribly extreme. If they reach a terribly high cost, he'll let you meet his choa ACDC, the second most powerful choa here.

"You better be ready to watch your step if you choose to live in Shelby's section. She doesn't tolerate things nearly as well as her brother. Normally it's because she just hasn't had a cup of coffee but you still wanna watch your step all the same. She takes freedom and equality to heart. She won't stand any teasing or harassment of any kind and don't even get me started on what happens when it comes to racism. If you try anything, by the time she's done with you when you come back, you won't have tears in your eyes; they'll be completely dried up! She has a sharp tongue but doesn't swear or anything, unless she totally loses her temper that is, not like her brother. I guess it's because she's the older sibling or something. And if you so much as say you're going to do something that will hurt an animal in any way, shape or form, she'll be all over you. She's a major animal lover, and if you say something like that, it's considered a threat, even if it's just a joke. Speaking of jokes, she'll allow them but only if you make it one hundred present clear that it's a joke, unless you want to be in major trouble. On top of it, you have to be careful it doesn't hurt the person you're pulling the joke on unless you want to be punished with one of her lectures or worse, meeting her choa, Twinkle, who is the most powerful choa here.

"Now those two choa take after their masters, but if they catch you attacking someone else or being mean or something like that to someone, they'll attack without order, which means, without any orders to _stop_. Believe me, those two can be cute and cuddly like their owners when they're in a good mood, but if you tick them off, look out! They can be _sccaaarrrrry_!"

"Cyan, we're on a tight notice, remember?" the tiny robot asked.

"Yes, yes," she whispered before gesturing towards the robot, "Now as for this little guy, his name is Gear. He's in charge of making sure things run smoothly around here. If he catches you doing something bad, you can say hello to having your feet glued to the floor with his glue pellets. They stick like, well, glue, but it's extremely strong. Only Rush has the potion that will free you from it, because she made Gear. You'll be stuck until your punishment is decided or until it's filled out, depending on what you were caught doing.

"Now, I'll bet you're all wondering what section of the Freedom Zone we're currently in. Well, this section is actually governed by both siblings. This small section is the boundary line between both sections, so they agreed to govern it equally, since it's rarely ever used. There is rarely ever any trouble here, so don't worry.

"Now, since I brought them up, I bet you're all wondering as to where you can get your own choa. Well, they're not the only ones you can own. You can own Nightopians, Neopets, and such during your stay here. But if you abuse them in any way, you'll be facing a lot of trouble. Not pretty if Rush does it, believe me. Now, all you have to do to adopt one is to follow the signs placed around both section, or simply ask Gear if you see him or any Omachoa of Infobot floating around. You can't miss them with that info! And believe me the choa and Nightopians in this zone are particularly special, and you'll find out why in good time.

"Now, incase of an emergency, you must head for this building!" Behind Cyan, a monitor came on, revealing a large floating building. A few of the humans knew it from the Justice League as the heroes' base of operation. "Incase of an emergency, you all are to head to this building," Cyan continued, "And only if the emergency alert has gone off. If you go into this building for any other reason, it had better be important.

"Now that's it, if you have any more questions, you no know where to go. Enjoy your stay in the Freedom Zone."

Cyan's dog tail swayed as she watched the many humans leave to the different sections. Her cat ears flickered at the sudden sound of all of them talking, but it didn't bother her nearly as much as it used to. Now all she could do was wait and hope for the best. They'd need it.


	3. Welcome Back

**Chapter three: Welcome Back**

The Peach Creek gang skid to a halt in the middle of the woods. They had lost all traces of the mysterious person. There weren't even any footprints in the mud that they tracked through. Despite the fact that the ground was extremely soft and wet, there was no footprint anywhere.

"Could we have imagined it?" Double D asked after a while.

"Then how could we all have heard it?" Hotshot asked.

"Good point," Double D mumbled.

"I honestly don't like this you guys," Nazz admitted.

"I know what you mean kid," Hotshot agreed, "I mean, I'm an old veteran from the fight against Robotnik, but nothing this weird has ever happened."

Meanwhile, less then a hundred yards away, completely hidden by the cover of dark, two teenagers and one kid were tripping over their own hands as they struggled to hook up the wires on the small machine in front of them.

"I told you that you were spending too much time with Peter Griffon!" Rush growled loudly.

"Well excuse me for trying to have a little fun," the black and green hedgehog growled back.

"You're worse then that end of the world episode, you know that don't you?"

"What, just because I like to throw mud at you doesn't mean I'm like the baby!"

"Please, you go through girlfriends about as many times as that baby tries to kill Lois."

"Do not!"

"Guys, save the quarrels for later, we need to get this thing working!" Nick said.

"What do you think I'm doing, ya dope?" the brunette asked harshly as she pressed more buttons on the device.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" the black and green hedgehog asked, "I mean, aren't we taking a major risk in doing this?"

"Tell me, would you rather leave it up to fate?" his sister asked, "Rika did, and she ended up going from one world to another for more then a hundred years!"

"Now what world are you talking about?" the blonde asked very much annoyed.

"Higurashi not that I'd let you go back to those worlds," the brunette said, "It's way too violent for you."

"I'm twelve years old, I can take it!"

"No you can't. Believe me, it ain't pretty."

"What's so bad about it?"

"Um guys, here they come," Nick said, making sure that a fight wouldn't ensure.

"Shit!" the boy cursed, only to be hit by his sister. She _hated_ it when he cursed and his punishment was either a punch to the head or hitting a pressure point. "Forget the technical junk!"

The black and green hedgehog then clapped his hands together and placed them just over the device. Bolts of blue lightning shot from the ground and hit the device. In a puff of smoke, the device was finished.

"Does it actually work?" Nick asked.

"No time to find out, here they come!" the hedgehog said before ducking into a bush, dragging his sister as he did.

Mumbles could be heard from the bush, somewhere along the lines of "putting starch in Matthew's underwear". While her brother watched through the bushes, his sister groaned, "I wonder if Ratchet ever had days like this with Al."

"Shut it you video game nerd, they're coming!" her brother hissed.

"Did you just call me "video game nerd"?" his sister hissed.

Realizing his mistake, the hedgehog squeaked,

"Oh shi-" His sister grabbed him and pulled him further into the bush before he could finish.

"Sh!" Rush hushed him.

The team of three instantly froze as the Peach Creek kids and Eddy's brother came into hearing range. Rush squinted her eyes in a serious way. Her brother knew that look anywhere. It was the one when they entered the worlds they codenamed "Touched by Higurashi". Rush really liked those worlds not just the people who lived in those worlds but the very twisted and complicated story that came with them. She was really into that kind of thing but he never found out all too much about them. And every time she came back from those worlds, she always brought a strange briefcase, the kind used for carrying laptops and very important papers.

He never dared to ask about it. Whenever he was about to, she'd give him a look that sort of set him off. It was beyond creepy to him. The look would say to him: Disturb me about what's in this briefcase and you'll regret for the rest of your life. He knew how dangerous the Higurashi worlds were, and as to why his sister kept going back to them, he'd never know. Heck, he'd nearly had fifteen nails hammered into each of his hands at each joint by a girl possessed by a demon engraved in her back. This was the first time he went to one of those worlds, and the last time too. He was just lucky Rush had come to his rescue before it could happen. According to her, he could have ended up much worse. "The last thing we need in this is another dead body walking around," was what she had told him. He never figured out if that was a threat, a warning, or an act to keep him away for his own safety. All he knew was that those worlds were dangerous and that Rush wouldn't so much as allow him to ask about going back to them, even almost three years after what had happened.

"Where'd the music go?" Double D asked.

Matthew was snapped out of the thoughts of Higurashi and to the humans less then five feet away from them. One little sound and they could be all over them like leeches. Eddy was in fact within arm's reach.

"You move, and I'll turn you into a stink bug," his sister threatened, "I'm sending in Max II."

Double D looked around for the source of the music. No one was really sure as to what to think. There had been music but it needed a source, so where was it?

"You think someone's playing with us?" Eddy asked.

"I don't think so, and if they are, it's not very funny," Hotshot said.

Double D looked into a bush, hoping to find something.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Jimmy was the one who screamed.

"What's wrong kid?" Hotshot asked.

"Something ran across my foot!" the young boy squealed.

Double D, who just so happened to look to the ground, saw a flash of white and brown.

"Jimmy, it was just a wild hamster, nothing to be scared of," Double D explained calmly.

"But, I'm scared of mice!" Jimmy whined.

"He stared Robotnik in the face more then once and he's scared of a little hamster?" Eddy asked Hotshot with his arms crossed over his chest.

"It was a hamster, not a mouse, there's a difference," Double D explained.

Matt wisely scooted away from his sister. There were practically flames shooting from her body as she restrained herself from strangling a certain weakling. She already had a dislike for Jimmy because of the Friendship Day incident, but now, anyone who didn't like rodents were on her top hundred most hated, at least until they started liking them, she even liked naked mole rats. She really, _really_ hated it when they mistook hamsters for mice and rats. His sister was just weird that way.

"Activating mini-port…NOW!" she whispered harshly.

The Peach Creek kids jumped at the sudden blue light the seemingly appeared out of nowhere. A swirling vortex slowly replaced what was once nothing but air.

"What the bloody hell is goin' on here?" Hotshot asked rather bluntly.

"…I think I know," Double D said as he slowly approached the vortex.

When the energy cleared some, it revealed a familiar city, seemingly made out of gold and jewels.

"Mobotropolis!" Double D said in surprise.

"WHAT?!" Hotshot nearly ran the kids over to get to Double D's side before nearly yelling, "ARE YOU SURE IT'S MOBOTROPOLIS?!"

Double D was somewhat worried. Being a Freedom Fighter Veteran, Hotshot's reaction to the downfall of Robotnik was equivalent to his birthday and Christmas coming early and on the same day. Double D wasn't exactly prepared for it.

"Yeah, I think so."

Hotshot looked for himself. He saw it, but was somewhat careful. Hotshot slowly raised his hand to the portal and just barely touched it before pulling back. The energy swam around his hand for about ten seconds before vanishing.

"What do you think Hotshot?" Double D asked.

"Well, the only way to really tell is if we check it out for ourselves," Hotshot replied.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! THE MOUSE IS BACK!!" Jimmy suddenly screamed.

His reaction this time was different. If they could see clearly enough, they'd see a small hamster walking up to him, causing Jimmy to step backwards, before he turned around, and broke into an all out run for the portal. He wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

"Jimmy!" Sarah cried as he vanished.

"Looks like we don't have any choice to go now," Hotshot said, "We've gotta get the kid back."

Sarah didn't even give another word before chasing after her friend. Nazz went next, followed by Kevin, Johnny and Plank, Rolf, the Kankers, Hotshot, and the Eds taking up the rear.

Once the portal closed, the team of three came out of hiding. The brunette leader was clearly steamed by Jimmy's reactions to her favorite robot hamster. The tiny robot moved towards her on its one wheel, into her hand, up her arm, and stopped on her shoulder.

"You did perfectly Max II," she said softly as she gently rubbed the top of his head, "Jimmy's cover at the Friendship Day thing is _so_ gonna be blown."

"What 'cha gonna do?" Nick asked.

"I…don't know… But I'll think of something," Rush said.

"Well, they're on Mobius now, does that mean our job is done?" her brother asked.

"No, it doesn't," she growled.

'It is only beginning,' she then thought, 'I should know, I'm the one writing this story out.'

_In the heart of the Freedom Zone…_

"You guys have no clue as to how lucky you are that this came up," Cyan said as she painted her claw-like fingernails a shade of red.

"Yeah right, we're still gonna get our tails fired by the commander sooner or later," Chris groaned.

"Well then, maybe this'll teach to not be so dumb and cocky," Cyan said, "And maybe if we're lucky, you'll stop being such a big bully to Nick."

"Bah, not my fault the tub o' lard's a major weakling, and can't even hold him own against his little brother," Chris replied.

"Yeah, yeah, you said the same thing about your little adventure to the Underworld, and wouldn't you know it, it's causing-"

"**I **_**KNOW**_** WHAT IT'S CAUSING**!" Chris yelled.

"Man, if I knew what we'd be going through, I'd have never let you guys talk me into this," Jacob said as he slammed his thumbs on a Nintendo Gamecube controller.

"That makes two of us," Eric agreed.

Kenny didn't say anything, for he was too focused on making his character move to really listen, let alone pay attention.

"Rush is _so_ going to skin you alive, boys," Cyan said as she checked her nails, "And then hang your sorry asses over the mantel after she's done with you."

"She doesn't do that! She hates animal-head trophies and skin-rugs, and stuff like that!" Eric snapped. That was one of the few things that hadn't changed since they were little kids; Rush's hatred of _anything _made from animal pelts. She'd been known to go off on people for so much as kidding about hurting an animal. She had the force of ten atomic bombs when she got mad, so if you wanted to keep your head on right, you wouldn't be stupid enough to kid about that kind of thing.

"Animal pelts, no, but humans, that's another story entirely," Cyan said, "I mean, your species _is_ over populating your many different Earths, after all. You're messing up the ecosystem, causing global warming, creating wars left and right, nearly wiping species off the face of their planets, and the list goes on and on."

"No one even asked you, Cyan!" Jacob now snapped, "How would you know anyways? You're not even entirely human! You're one quarter human, one and a half quarters wolf, and one and a half quarters cat!"

Cyan's cat ears twitched in annoyance.

"This coming from one of the four stooges who sent all of the dimensions into chaos for ten seconds?" she growled, "I mean, we're still trying to determine the exact number or deaths you caused."

"It was an accident for the love of Pete!" Jacob now yelled.

"Wow Jake! I didn't know you were gay!" Cyan said in a fake surprise.

"…She got you good dude," Eric said.

"DAMN YOU ALL!" Jacob yelled at the top of his lungs.

Cyan simply shook her hands gently, waiting for the pain to dry.

"You're lucky she isn't using you for target practice with the R.Y.N.O., otherwise you'd all be dead meat by now," Cyan said, "There's no surviving that puppy."

"Says you!" Jacob snapped.

"Don't believe me? Go to the training room and see for yourself, I don't really care," Cyan said, "My job is just to baby-sit you guys so you don't cause anymore trouble."

Eric simply turned to the second TV, as it changed to the Peach Creek crew as they flew through the portal.

"Well, well, well, now," Cyan said as she turned to the window, "Wouldn't you know it? There they are now."

She gestured with her hand to the window, revealing several shooting stars flying over the sky, but not disappearing.

"Those guys don't even know they're shooting stars right now, do they?" Eric asked.

"Did you when you came here?" Cyan asked.

"Touche."

_Elsewhere in the Freedom Zone…_

"Oh look! There they are!" Caria pointed to the sky.

Thomas looked to the sky, to see a group of shooting stars streak across the sky. Like everyone else in the Freedom Zone, they could watch the whole adventure of the Peach Creek Crew unravel on their new watches, which doubled as TVs.

"Oh wow, I wish we were as lucky as Rush and her team," Thomas admitted.

"I'll say," Caria said.

"Bah, like Rush would pick weaklings like you!"

The two twelve-year-olds jumped and turned around. They had made the terrible mistake of entering Fullmetal Alchemist fan territory. Upon coming to live in the Freedom Zone, gangs were formed, depending on which Seria the kids and teenagers liked. These barely even knew anything about Fullmetal Alchemist other then the name, being major Sonic fans. The punishment of entering the others' territory depended on who discovered them. It was peaceful as long as everyone stayed in his or her own area. Those who were fans of more then one lived between the others. They were ones that got along with all the others the best. It was just a different version of the World Wars.

"P-P-Please Ricky, we just got here, we haven't even looked at our maps yet!" Caria bagged.

Ricky was a sort of ringleader of this area, and was one of the nastiest teenagers in the entire Freedom Zone. The twelve-year-olds were beginning to think they were better off in Rush's half of the zone.

"No excuse, time for a pounding," Ricky growled with a grin.

"B-B-B-But Flame won't allow it! He's not that heartless!" Thomas stuttered.

"Who's to say we can't teach you a lesson and beat on ya at the same time?" Ricky asked as he cracked his knuckles, "There is such a thing as humiliation in your dimensions, isn't there?"

They both gulped as the fifteen-year-old lifted up Thomas, who braced himself for a punch or something. Another, a female, lifted up Caria, who readied herself for a verbal lashing female bullies were famous for.

"We're gonna say it once; put down the kid and we won't hafta kick your sorry tails all the way to Tokyo in some random dimension."

All of the bullies jumped at the voice. They turned to see Gear standing about six feet away. He wasn't much bigger then an Omochoa, but he was armed with Glue Pellets.

"Hah, what are ya gonna do, glue us to the ground?" Ricky taunted the small robot.

"No, but Rusty and ACDC are gonna beat you something awful," Gear said in a know it all voice.

That stopped the bullies dead in their tracks. Rusty and ACDC were a team to fear when they were working together. Rusty, Flame's Infernape, and ACDC, a Dark Choa, were considerably the law of this sector, as well as the judge. When working together, they were a pretty well put up team. The only team better was probably Twinkle and Shelby's amazingly large collection of pokemon.

The two walked out from behind a fence, with smug looks on their face.

"SHIT! RUN!" Ricky yelled as he dropped Thomas.

As they watched the bullies disappear around a corner, Rusty and ACDC gave chase, just to make sure they got the message.

With the Peach Creek crew…

They were being propelled at incredible speeds, even faster then the speed of light. They were practically flying as they flew headfirst straight forward, through an amazing tunnel of colors and bright lights. The wind's force was amazing, yet they still somehow managed to penetrate it. Double D clutched his hat as the winds whipped at him, threatening to remove his hat. If they had been going slower, they may have seen some spectacular sights, most of which they'd have never imagined.

Although, the whole time, they felt their bodies twist and reshape themselves, cell by cell. It didn't hurt, but it did feel strange. Skin became armor-like scales, hair became fur, their clothes changed into different materials, and they felt it all happen with no pain.

"Hang on guys, we're exiting to Mobius…NOW!" Hotshot said loudly.

In a blinding flash of light everything vanished, but they didn't pass out like they did the last time they came to the distant planet. All of them shielded their eyes, as they looked away, some of them seeing slight changes to their appearances. They felt ground appear under their feet as they somehow turned upright and gently floated to the ground.

Double D was the first to open his eyes. They were standing in a lively city, full of humanoid animals, all of which were walking freely and happily, not fearing anything. Children could be heard giggling as they played in the night air, while the light of the moon reflected of the gold and jewels that actually made up the entire city, some making lunar rainbows. Some of them were looking at holographic maps, others were riding on hover bikes and things similar to hover units only these were more like cars. There was no denying where they had landed. That was when a small, yet very cute, choa-like robot landed less then a yard away from them, flying with a small propeller on its head.

"Hi and welcome to New Mobotropolis, I'm Omochoa, I'm here to help you! I will be you guide this evening!"

**--**

**So, how'd you all enjoy this chapter? It's also the very first time I put cuss words into a fanfic! I'm gonna focus more on the Peach Creek crew in the next few chapters. R&R please.  
**


	4. A Reunion of a Lifetime

**Chapter four: A Reunion of a Lifetime**

"It really has been a long time," Hotshot said as he looked around him.

There was no denying that the Hedgehogs had gotten the planet back onto its feet once Robotnik and Black Doom were no longer a worry. The now porcupine just couldn't stop smiling.

"Hey bro, are you done staring into space or are you gonna help us find Sonic and the gang?" Eddy asked.

Hotshot turned around and was quite the sight to Double D. He was a blond porcupine who looked very similar to Sonic in some ways. He had three large quills on his head that were black at the ends in a jagged pattern, while three bangs hung in his eyes they too were tipped with black hair dye, just like his own human hair. His eyes were a bright blue while a black vest rested on his shoulders similar to the one he had been wearing earlier. His gloves were red with black cuffs with black skull and cross bones on the tops. His sneakers were similar to Sonic's, only they were black and red, with his socks also being black. Somehow, the look fit him perfectly. His left ear was pierced with one gold hoop and one stud just above it. His right ear was also pierce, only with three studs instead of one. His eyebrows were also pierced three studs on the right one while two hoops and three studs were on the left one. He only got all the piercing done to act as medals from the war. To a female mobian, he was considerably hot when he took out the body jewelry. At least they weren't there when he was a human.

"Heh, nice makeover baby bro'," Hotshot said as he pointed at Eddy.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Eddy yelled, "I helped save Mobius and this is the thanks I get? I was this close to getting killed!" Eddy put his pointer finger and thumb less then an inch apart as he spoke.

"Yeah right, I'd like to actually see you guys out on the field, you all were probably just hiding the whole time," Hotshot said rather cockily.

"Wh-why you-" Eddy as too angry to finish.

"Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to be the Peach Creek party would you?" Omochoa asked.

Eddy leaned close to the one he figured was Double D, before whispering,

"I don't know…are we?"

"I think so," the chameleon whispered back.

"That's us," Hotshot said without a second thought.

"What are you doing?! What if that's a bad thing?!" Eddy hissed at his older brother.

"I kind of doubt that," Hotshot said dully.

"Ah yes, the royal hedgehog family has been expecting you," the small robot said happily, "The oracle told them you'd be coming around sometime this month."

The now mobians looked at each other in excitement, except for Kevin, who was less then thrilled.

"Follow me please, the Hedgehog family has been waiting for your return," Omochoa said cutely.

"Lead the way," Hotshot said with the widest grin any of them had ever seen.

"Then follow me," Omochoa said.

The Peach Creek crew followed the small robot as he floated through the air with the propeller on his head spinning. As they walked, they could see that the city was far more advanced since Dr. Robotnik was taken down. There were hologram maps scattered here and there, hoverboards that only seemed to have air powering them, and who knows what else. It was too much to take in all at once.

"Hey guys, check this out," Eddy said as he pointed to a wall with his thumb.

The jewel material used to make the wall next to them acted as a mirror. Hotshot hadn't changed at all since the last time he was a porcupine the others were another story. Eddy, surprisingly, had grown a few inches. Six inches more and he'd probably he able to stare Double D in the eyes. He had a jacket similar to his old one, but it had a red line going down the side like the shirt he wore as a human. The zipper was shaped like a dollar sign and was quite large. This new jacket also had pockets which had the words "I'm rich and you're not" on them. From one of these pockets was a chain, much like the one he had in his jeans. His pilot's helmet was a few shades darker then before, while the fuzz around the edges had become red and the goggles that rested on his head were bright yellow. His sneakers were now crimson red and white at the bottoms. His gloves were white with orange-yellow rings. His eyes were now a bright shade of gold.

Double D had grown about two inches in height. His beanie remained on the top of his head, like last time. This time however, his t-shirt remained and around his neck, was a sort of magnifying glass without the handle. Also, hanging around his waste was a dark red jacket that he would later learn was called a hoodie. His sneakers were once again ninja-like only they were metal at the toes, making them a little heavy. His gloves had little changed in them, if not, at all. His eyes were now blue.

Ed hadn't grown much, probably because most Mobians weren't very tall and crocodiles were already frighteningly tall. His jacket had remained on his shoulders, but it now had a hood on it, oddly enough. His sneakers now had a "Jaws" shark marking at the toes, fangs and all. His eyes were the same shade of green as his jacket.

Kevin's trademark hat was still on his head, with his armadillo ears were sticking out from the sides. He was wearing a hoodie, baggy black jeans, and red and white sneakers. His hoodie read, "Jock or Jerk, you decide" on the back. His eyes were bright red.

Nazz's spines hung down like before, only they were nearly twice as long as they were back in the past. Her clothing remained the same, except for the fact that her ears were now pierced and her eyes were lemonade pink.

Johnny didn't have much difference from last time, other then a chain around his neck that held a bomb pendent at the end. His bandana now also had a bomb printed on the front. His sandals had no change in them and his eyes were forest green.

Plank was a Choa now, and a Hero one at that. He floated near Johnny, not daring to leave his side.

Rolf was now a blue goat, and remained the same. The only really difference was that he now had a bag over one shoulder and his shirt now had pockets. His eyes were gray.

Sarah had little change, other then her gold hoop earrings, which now had rubies hanging from them. She was a few inches taller, maybe two and a half feet tall. On her tail was a white heart shaped mark, which hadn't been there before while and her eyes were now dark pink.

Jimmy had a more noticeable change. He now had a blue artist's hat on his head and a dark blue jacket was now tied around his waste. His kakis and blue sweater stayed as they were while his black dress shoes now were black sneakers with dark blue eyes.

As for the Kankers, they had slightly different changes to them, other then now being weasels. Their usual clothes remained, but they now had jackets hanging around their wastes, they were the respectful colors of the sisters, they also now had brown belts with pocket knifes hanging from them with their eyes matching their hair. There was something about them that screamed ""bounty hunter" now.

"Hey there good lookin', what's cookin'?" Eddy asked his reflection.

"Eddy, honestly," Double D groaned.

"Oh yeah, it's good to be back in the fur," Hotshot said with a stretch.

"If you please, their royal majesties are waiting!" Omachoa snapped.

"Sorry, we're comin'," Hotshot said as he turned to the tiny robot.

"Come along then."

The Peach Creek kids just looked at each, shrugged, and followed the small robot. The entire time, a single Hero Choa with a unicorn's horn and a Dark Choa watched them from behind a corner and let out a few small giggles. The two choa started flapping their tiny wings and lifted into the air. Their partners would be pleased with the process they were making.

However both parties were unaware of someone watching them. Someone angry. Someone who wanted revenge, someone who wanted the Peach Creek kids…to die.

_The Royal Palace…_

Sonia sighed sadly. The play was a huge success, but it would have been better with their friends on stage. It just felt so wrong to be doing it without them. The pink princess knew her brothers were probably feeling that way as well. Who wouldn't be?

"sigh I bet Eddy's already got another girlfriend, same for-"

Knock! Knock!

Sonia was cut off by someone knocking at her door and at nine o'clock at night. The pink princess let out a frustrated sigh, never having a moment's peace anymore.

"The door's open!" Sonia called.

The door opened a crack and small Omachoa peeked in.

"Excuse me your majesty, but you and your siblings have been called to the throne room by your parents," Omachoa said.

"Whatever for? And at this hour none the less."

"It's a surprise."

Sonia simply sighed and followed the small robot out of her room into the hallway.

_At the palace gates…_

Hotshot let out a low whistle. He was impressed with the size of the palace. The main build was made of diamonds, the hardest substance on the planet. Sapphires made the drawbridge and main doors. Turquoise made up a balcony overhead, and at least three of the towers. Emeralds could be seen in the far back of the palace, making up four more towers. The Hedgehogs had done a marvelous job at rebuilding their city there was no doubting that.

"So, Sonic Sonia and Manic finally found their mom, eh?" Hotshot asked his brother.

"And Shadow, and their dad," the bee corrected.

"Who's Shadow?"

"Aleena's fourth child," Double D answered.

"She had FOUR kids?!" Hotshot asked in shock.

"Affirmative. He was small at birth, so Queen Aleena entrusted him to one of the doctor's who helped her deliver the children. His name was Professor Gerald, Robotnik's grandfather. As it turns out, the council was not to be made up of Queen Aleena and her children, but of her children alone"

"Hoo boy, that kid must be messed up beyond all believe," Hotshot worried.

"Only after Gerald and Maria, Robotnik's kind cousin, were killed during a home robbery but we managed to break through to him."

"And what about their dad?"

"He was living in a place called Freedom City, which was in another dimension. The most loyal to the royal family, escaped to that city where they could plan Robotnik's overthrow… well those who could escape. When we got there, we were surprised to not find Queen Aleena but King Aron. It was mixed emotions for the siblings but I think they got over it."

"Damn, what have I missed?" the porcupine asked.

"A lot bro, believe me," Eddy said.

"The Hedgehogs are inside, preparing for bed," Omachoa said.

"That's right, it's-"

Double D was cut off by a sound. Taken by surprise, Double D turned around. That was the first time he noticed five large towers that loomed over New Mobotropolis. Four of the five towers surrounded one single tower. The sound was of a large church bell, being hit several times in a sort of song. The only word that could describe the sound was beautiful.

"What's that?" Double D asked Omachoa.

"The Harmony Towers," Omachoa answered.

"Where did those come from?' Hotshot asked.

"Queen Aleena, and King Aron created those towers to signify the peace and harmony their children worked so hard to obtain. Each tower stands for a different child, while the one in the center stands for the kind and queen. They're easier to see during the day though"

"What about that sound?" Nazz asked.

"The tower is in fact the world's largest musical instrument. It plays on the hour, everyday. There are large bells inside, and the tower is programmed to strike these bells in certain orders to make the music. Every possible combo makes a different song."

"Combos?" Eddy asked.

"There are different programs in the towers, and each one makes a different song. You can take any of them, put them into the main processor, and you get any one of more then hundred songs."

"I see…" Double D mumbled.

"Now, may we please go inside?" Omachoa asked a little annoyed.

"Sure, why not?" came from Hotshot and Kevin.

Omachoa walked up to a small scanner not too far away from the drawbridge. He held up his hand and placed it a small port under the scanner. A green light crossed his hand and the word "accepted" appeared in green on the screen.

"Welcome back Omachoa," the scanner droned in a monotone-like voice.

The drawbridge suddenly sprung to live and it fell. It hit the ground hard, causing some of them to lose their balance. They quickly regained their composer to see the courtyard. It was more of a park then a courtyard. Multiple paths were between patches of grass and tree, leading through out the yard, some having benches at the sides, others having water fountains, and a few guards waking along them.

"Wow, these guys have style," Hotshot said quietly.

"I'll say," Nazz agreed.

"This way please!" Omachoa said as he began walking down one of the multiple paths.

"Wait a minute!" Hotshot called before running.

"_You_ wait a minute!" Eddy then called to his brother before flying after him with the others at his heels.

"…How is it that Hotshot is a porcupine and Eddy's a bee?" Sarah asked.

"Why are you a fox and Ed's a crocodile?" Kevin asked.

"Touche."

"…I was wondering that too."

Rush removed the binoculars from her eyes and let out a frustrated groan. Nick had said that last sentence as the now-mobians entered the front doors.

"Nick, tell me, do you enjoy me getting annoyed?" he brunette asked.

"No, why?"

Rush rolled her eyes and looked back into the binoculars, hoping this mission would be short. It was going to be anything but short and she knew it.

"Why are we here again?" Matthew asked.

"One, because it's our job, two, we have to protect the world order, and three, because I said so."

"Well could we at least land? I'm tired of riding on Charzard's back," the hedgehog now whined.

"Tough luck, the commander gave us our orders and I'm followin' them."

The hedgehog now rolled his eyes his sister was impossible to work with sometimes… at least in his opinion.

_In the throne room…_

"Mother, Father, why did you call us here?" Sonia asked.

"Yeah, we're completely worn out from the play," Manic added.

"Rest assured kids, you'll be very pleased," King Aron chuckled warmly.

Sonic and Shadow looked at each other in confusion. This blue-green hedgehog may have been their father they still knew him for barely a year and was still a mystery to them. They didn't even know what happened to him the day Robotnik took over, but they never bothered to ask.

"You called for us your majesty?" Nova asked with Tune's small hand in her own.

"Yes Nova darling," Queen Aleena said with her usual warm smile.

"Well, what is it?" Sonic asked.

"You have the patience of your father, you know that don't you?" Aleena laughed softly.

Sonic's tapping foot told them he was serious.

"Very well then," Aleena smiled, "Bring them in Omachoa!"

The large doors at the far end of the throne room slowly opened. The right one opened fully before the left did as well.

Both sides stared with large eyes at the party across from them. Some tails swished, ears twitched, and jaws dropped. The only ones completely unaffected were Omachoa, who stood off to the side, and the kind and queen, who simply looked very pleased.

The stillness of the room finally broke when Hotshot took a single step forward. Something broke on both sides of the room. Both parties ran head first to the others in front of them. The only ones who didn't move were Kevin and the Kanakers. Those who did were greeted with huge hugs and laughs. It was a reunion of a lifetime… at least to them it was. The entire time, Queen Aleena and King Aron simply watched their children with the most pleased looks on their faces. If only they knew what dangers were laying and waiting for their children. They would not be smiling.


	5. Some Time to Catch up

**Chapter five: Some Time to Catch up**

Rush sat on a window seal, watching them with a small smirk on her face. They were oblivious to everything but the moment. She let out a rare yet warm chuckle at the very thought. They were in danger and yet they weren't the least bit worried. Times like that were few and precious for her.

"Oh Eddy! I've missed you so much!" Sonia squealed and it was followed by several kisses.

"Yo Sonia, what about me?" Hotshot asked as he pushed Nazz out of his way.

"Oh Hotshot!" Sonia literally dropped Eddy and trapped the older porcupine in a death grip hug.

"Sonia, Sonia, the pretty boy can't breathe!" the yellow porcupine gasped as he began to turn blue.

"Long time no see!" Manic said as he gave Ed a noogie.

The happy scene was one that nobody wanted to end… no one with a kind and caring heart anyways and Kevin had none.

"Snores-ville," he mumbled quietly.

Rush sent a hard glare at him.

"Note to self: torture Kevin… after getting the truth about that little "Friendship Day" incident out of Jimmy."

"What are you guys doing here?!" Sonic laughed as Rolf gave him a friendly punch to the chest.

"We don't know! One second we're in the woods, next thing we know there's a portal leading here right in front of us!" Hotshot laughed, "But who cares, we're back and that's all that matters!"

Double D was, at one point, pushed down and fell onto somebody. As fate would have it, it was a certain golden hedgehog.

"Oh, um, sorry Nova," Double D said with a slight blush.

"Uh, that's aright."

It took the two a few seconds to realize that their lips were barley brushing. Any closer and they would…

"Mother, Father, what's the meaning of this?"

Shadow's voice had broken them from their trance. They weren't exactly sure if they were grateful for that or not.

"Yeah, how'd you know these guys would be back?" Tails asked as he released Nazz's hands.

"The Oracle told us that they would be arriving sometime around the end of the month. We had all of the Omachoa keep watch for anything unusual," Aron said warmly.

"Huh, why does that not surprise me?" Sonic asked in an annoyed tone, "And you never told us this because?"

"We wanted to surprise you children," Aleena said with her usual warm smile, "And welcome back Hotshot. It's been nearly three years now."

"Four actually, but who's counting your majesty?" the porcupine joked, "And I'm ready to serve you and your family if it's needed."

"Well I don't believe it will be," Aron said.

"Aron," Aleena said quietly, "we must speak as soon as we can, a meeting has been called by… Sector D.W.W."

"Sector what?!"

"I'll explain once we get there. But unless it's serious, we must keep it from the children, now that they're with friends again, especially friends from another dimension."

"Aleena, darling, what's going on?"

"…Not in front of the children, please."

"Smart idea Aleena," Rush mumbled, "they wouldn't like the idea of all existence being in danger. Nobody does… Only one who does is the son of a who done it responsible for it… That or it's a video game but that doesn't count."

"Sis, should we reopen the portal now?" her brother asked over the walkie-talkie.

"Hold off until they've had a chance to catch up on old times. I want them to get to know each other again before they have to rush head first into an inter-dimensional war, especially with… _them_ on the loose. They'll probably kill the entire royal family just because they're related to their objective."

"How can you be sure? I mean all they need to do is kill just one, and only one guy to get what they want. And on top of it all, don't you think you're taking this a little too harsh, I mean-"

"YOU WEREN'T THERE WHEN THEY KILLED THEM!"

The black and green hedgehog took the walkie from his ear and stared at it. He could hear his sister holding back sniffles. These released souls… who were they and why did his sister take it so personally?

He couldn't be the one who killed…

"Nick, why does my sister hate these guys so much?"

"Because they killed two of her personal role models, her heroes of sorts."

"Oh, you mean that bomb guy?"

"Yes and no, we're dealing with him and three others that she can't stand. They killed someone else… And the "bomb guy" as you put it is _not_ dead."

"Whatever, you both are denying it."

Nick rolled his eyes. The two were now guarding Peach Creek, in case any unwanted pests showed their ugly heads. Although he was wishing he had someone else to work with at the moment.

"We're to stay here until Rush gives us the word." Nick told the young hedgehog.

"But why should we listen to her? We're just as highly ranked, been around as long as her, you're even older then her!"

"She's the leader of our group because she's the most serious."

"That and the commander has a thing for her."

"That's true."

"I heard that," came from the walkie-talkie.

"YIKES!"

Rush turned off her walk-talkie and let out a frustrated sigh.

"The things I do for my family."

"Children, why don't you show our friends around the city? Your father and I have important business to discuss."

"Speaking of families, I better help Aleena explain everything to Aron," Rush said with a slight smirk.

She waited until the group of kids and teenagers were out of the room before coming down from her perch. Here we go again

_In the city…_

"So what have you guys been up to lately?" Sonic asked Eddy.

"Well, when we left, Double D got this idea about publishing our story into a book, and since he's so fast on a computer, it took him only six months to write it all. It was an instant sell out. His parents have been tempted I don't know how many times to move to the move upper class towns. But since Double D was the one making the money he was allowed to have a say in it and he said 'no' every time."

"That's good, otherwise we might never have seen you again!" Tune chirped as he grabbed Double D's hand.

"That's half the reason I didn't want to move," Double D admitted with a small smile.

"Nicely done dude," Manic said with a friendly slap to the back.

"So, Hotshot, what happened to you after you left?" Sonic asked.

"Well, I went to college, played on the football team, got us into the state finals, decided to take well deserved break since the anniversary of the day I left Mobius was comin' up," the porcupine shrugged.

"That's right, the fourth anniversary that you left is comin' up," Manic said.

"Yep, and I also wanted to come back to the old Cul-da-sac since I haven't seen my family for four years."

"No, but we've seen you on the tube," Eddy said while rolling his eyes.

Kevin had stayed at the back of the group, not wanting to get too close to Hotshot. It was clear that he was strong and didn't want any part of one of his beatings.

"So who's idea was it to build the Harmony Towers?" Nazz asked.

"It was Sonic's, surprisingly," Sonia joked.

"Har har, har, very funny sis," Sonic groaned.

"Compare it to the time you put your chili dogs in the van's engine to keep them warm," Manic smirked as he quickened his pace to get past his brother. Sonic only glared at him.

"We can show you around them if you want," Nova chirped quietly.

"Yeah, by the way, where are Knuckles, Shelby and Topaz? I thought they were in the play," Double D asked.

"They were, but it was only for a visit, Knuckles and his family are trying to make the Floating Island safer so they can protect the Master Emerald. Shelby and Topaz had things they needed to do back in their hometown, something about a harvest," Tails grinned.

"Why aren't you with them? I figured that you'd move in with them," Nazz asked.

"I would have if Queen Aleena didn't adopt me!" the kitsune chirped.

"Is that even allowed?" Eddy asked.

"She's the queen, she can do whatever she wants," Nova said quietly.

"True," the bee now agreed.

"Say, do you think we can see the towers up close?" Jimmy asked.

"I was hoping you'd say that," the hedgehog siblings chorused.

"With that and several laughs, the former underground rebels raced to the towers, oblivious to the danger they were, possibly ready to ignore their mother's guidance, oblivious-"

"That's enough Samos! They aren't Jak and/or Daxter!" Rush snapped into her walkie-talkie.

"So what?" the old voice asked, "They're just as bad!"

"Says you," the brunette said before turning off her end, allowing her to avoid a lecture and then turned to the two older hedgehogs. "Now, back to business…"

_In an unknown dimension…_

A boy with long black hair was staring at the handmade jewelry he was talented at making in his hands. All week he had been tormented by wild dreams about a boy with a medallion stuck in his forehead. Just last night he had seemingly entered a new chapter of his life, in which the boy, Double D was it, entered a whole other world with his friends. He didn't really pay attention to his friends until one of them a boy nicknamed Ace due to his love of poker spoke up,

"Doesn't that piss you off?"

"Yeah, that's just wrong!" Ace's younger brother Swift agreed.

"Ken's gone too far this time," a girl nicknamed Beauty added.

Ace jumped off of the barrel that he had been sitting on before saying,

"I mean, I know a lot of stuff have been stolen around town lately, and that we have a score to settle with Ken and his crew… So if he wants to think we did it I can't really blame 'im. Ya see that's not what really bugs me… What REALLY bugs me is that he's going around telling everyone that we're the ones with the sticky fingers! And now the whole town and their mothers are treating us like the klepto club!" Ace then turned to the boys with black hair before continuing with his little rant, "Have you ever been this ticked off before in your life, because I sure haven't! Nuh uh, NEVER!"

Swipe, a deep green hedgehog, Spinner, a light blue hedgehog, Fancy, a red hedgehog, and Light, a light blue and white hedgehog, gave a few cheers and 'here here's'.

"Now, what do we do," a brown, two tailed fox called Twister growled.

The boy with black hair was wearing a red sweater, to keep him warm from the cool fall air of Twilight Town with a pair of dark purple jeans. He placed the bracelet on the crate he was sitting, and thought before speaking up.

"Well, we could find the real thieves, that would set the record straight."

"What about Ken and his group?" Ace asked.

"First, we gotta clear out names," the dark haired boy said calmly.

"OH, NO!"

Everyone turned to Fancy who was staring at the table with wide eyes.

"Our – are gone!"

Fancy grabbed her throat and cleared it, almost as if something was caught in it.

"Our – are gone?!" Swipe asked in shock, knowing what she was trying to say. He too then grabbed his throat, as the same strange feeling washed over his. The others also felt the strangeness wash over their throats.

"You can't say – why not?" Beauty asked, ignoring the strange feeling.

"But you do understand what I'm saying right?" Fancy asked, "Our – are gone! Our precious -! They were all we had to find our parents!"

"Stolen," the dark haired boy said quietly, "And not just the – , the word - , they stole it too!"

"What kind of thieve is that?" Swipe asked, "Ken could never have pulled that off."

"Right, I think this calls for some recon," Spinner announced.

"I agree," Light agreed with a nod.

They all nodded in agreement and followed the sky blue hedgehog out the exit, with the dark haired boy at the back. By chance, he tripped over a small stool and hit the ground hard. It took him a few seconds before his mind caught up to him and stood himself up.

"Intel, c'mon!" Beauty called.

"Coming!" the boy called Intel called before following his friends outside.

_Elsewhere…_

"He's getting worse," a man in a dark red coat with a dark red scarf wrapped around his head said.

"They all are," a teenager wearing a black jacket with the hood hiding his face. His hands were in the pockets.

"Yes, but he is the worse."

"As long as this works, then I'm perfectly fine with it. But tell me, why did you make that latest program?"

"…What program?"

"The one with the stolen jewelry, they're starting to be accused of the thefts."

"I never made a such a program! …You don't think…"

"It _is_ the only way to explain it."

"…Right… I'm going to have to have one of them show off a necklace, and when they steel the necklace, he'll catch up to them and then I'll return it to him… Still, I wish Xix would make haste."

"This is complicated and difficult, you know that by now. She just needs some time, and, hopefully, things will end well."

"And if it fails we'll have a disaster on a multidimensional scale, in-which they'll have our heads."

"I still can't believe that they came to _us_ for this."

"They have their own work to do, but remember, this is strictly between the two of us and them."

"And if word of it gets out, what do you think will become of us?"

"We make like Dumbledore and make an exit."

If the older of the two could see the teenager's eyes, he would have seen that they were rolling.

"At least finish the towers, they'll need to know about those."

"Yes of course, but what about you? Are _your_ memories returning?"

"Yes, the haze is clearing."

'Good, very good, they really are good children."

"For your sake, they better be, because I have a few unpleasant memories coming back."

The older man let out a warm chuckle before saying,

"You really must spend some time with King Mickey, he really is pleasant to spend time with. It makes you feel like a child again."

"Tch, please, that's the last thing I want."

_Back on Mobius…_

"So these are the towers," Double D said in awe.

"Yep, the crown jewel of our city," Manic smirked.

The towers, upon closer inspection, were much taller then they seemed from the palace. They were in fact one large building, that were connected at what seemed like a lobby of sorts and rose at the five points, which were made of different materials at the tops. The closest one was made out of sapphire, to the right one was made out of amethyst, emerald followed that one, and onyx made the last one. The one in the center had two kinds of jewels to make it, garnet and quartz.

"Each towers stands for a member of the royal family, except the middle one, it stands for out parents. Kind of like a victory statue," Sonia said.

"Each one also stands for a different thing we were fighting for," Manic then added, "Green stands for life, pink for love, blue for freedom, black for the right to choose, and the final one for the right to be who you are and to love who you love. We each chose what our own towers stood for."

"It was a long struggle but it was worth it," Shadow said with a nod.

"Without a doubt," Nova agreed with a small nod.

"So, how do the towers work, to make the music I mean," Double D asked.

"We'll show you, c'mon," Sonia said, tugging on both Eddy and Hotshot's hands.

_In the Freedom Zone…_

The sound of breaking glass and other sounds could be heard. A street fight was breaking out, and all over the same matter that caused just about all the fights in the Freedom Zone: who was in love with who. This time it was weather Sonia loved Eddy or Hotshot.

"WATCH IT!" Cyan snapped out the window. Her two-story house, which was located in the center of the town, was taking some hits from the flying flowerpots. The teenager ducked as a smaller pot flew through the window.

"IN-COMING!" she yelled.

The four boys ducked as the pot shattered upon hitting the wall. With a frustrated snarl, Cyan slammed the window shut, hoping the window could hold out against the baseballs now being thrown.

Jake, who had ducked under a table peeked out and squeaked,

"Is it always like this?"

"Yeah, those lunatic fans are always itching to pounce on each other's throats. I think we nearly had to stop a few attempted murders in some of those fights," Cyan growled slightly as her tail flickered in annoyance, "And, if given the chance, they'd probably kill of anyone whom they'd think would be a possible threat to their favorite couple."

"Is that why Rush made it forbidden for fans to go to other Seria worlds?" Chris asked from the couch.

"Bingo, we have a winner," Cyan said sarcastically.

"Well after that bombing attempt in that one world, why wouldn't she?" Eric asked.

"No, it's also a way to keep the Heartless' numbers down," Kenny added as he pulled a cooking pot from his head.

"That too," Cyan sighed, "But then again, if you guys hadn't gone meddling around where you shouldn't have, this wouldn't be happening now would it?"

"Alright, alright, we get the message, we seriously messed up, don't need to go rubbing it in our faces," Jake growled.

"I actually can, because you four deserve it," Cyan said as she twitched her ears, "If you guys actually behaved yourselves every now and again, we wouldn't be in this state of emergency. Four level ten security, dangerous spirits are on the loose because of your tomfoolery."

"Four, I thought there were only two," Kenny said.

"We discovered the other two only a few hours ago, and that makes it all the more troublesome. If those four aren't stopped, more lives will be lost then all the revolutions, world wars, and such wars all put together from back on your Earth," Cyan said as she stared out the window.

"How many lives are that?" Chris asked.

"More numerous then the planet, stars, and shooting stars you can see out this window," the half-breed sighed.

"But that's gotta be at least a million!' Kenny squeaked as he looked out the window.

"Yes, entire generations were lost to those wars, now imagine the devastation those four alone will cause if they manage to get their hands on the D.H."

BEEP!

Cyan looked at her communicator as the code ran across the screen.

"Oh shit!" she gasped.

"Now what?" Eric asked.

She turned to them gloomily. They could tell it was bad news.

"They've got the Heartless."

_Back on Mobius…_

The Peach Creek kids were in awe. The inside was as impressive as the outside. Statues of different Freedom Fighters filled the lobby (including themselves) and paintings lined the walls. The first thing anyone would see when they first entered was a large carving fo the royal family, playing their hearts out on their instrument, with Queen Aleena singing and Aron playing a guitar.

"Wow," was all Hotshot was able to get out.

"Yeah, we were shocked when we first stepped inside as well," Sonic smirked.

"Such skillful work, this is something out of a fairytale!" Double D said in awe.

"Where's the room that makes the music?" Eddy asked.

"Follow us," Sonic said as he ran up to the statue of the family. At the base of the statue were multiple large white disks, each one having different flower-like symbols on them. Sonic grabbed one and carefully removed it from where it was being held.

"The instrument is at the highest point in the middle tower," Tails explained, "And to get there we can either fly of take the stairs."

"How do we fly up to the top?" Nazz asked.

"Watch," Tails said as he led them to the left end of the room. He pressed what appeared to be buttons on the wall, each one flashing a different color as he did. If someone had been looking closely enough, they would have seen something make an opening gesture.

"Step lightly," he said, gesturing towards the wall.

The Peach Creek gang could only look at him like he's crazy.

"Tails, they don't know about it yet," Sonia reminded him.

"Oh yeah, my bad."

"Tails is bad?" Ed asked.

"No numskull, he just made a mistake," Eddy groaned.

Ed gave no response.

"We'll show ya," Tails said as he walked into… something transparent.

"It's an elevator made out of plastic," Tails chirped, "It'll fly us up to the top!"

"What do you mean?" Double D asked.

"You'll see," Sonia said as she stepped in.

The Peach Creek kids stepped inside, and Tails pressed a button on the wall. The doors closed and the elevator lifted up. At first everything seemed normal, until the elevator jerked to the left.

"What the?!" Hotshot cried when he fell on top of Rolf.

"It goes in different directions, makes it more interesting if you ask me," Tails said cutely.

The elevator was fast in getting to the top of the middle tower, where the only was to enter was a small square hole in the floor, that was just big enough for the elevator to pass though. When it came to a stop, it stopped in a large room with a large device in it. They figured it was the machine that made the music. When the door opened, Sonic walked up to a panel on the machine.

"Normally it plays on the hour, but on special occasions or if there's something specific you wanna hear," as he said this, he pressed down on a disk already in the panel and it popped out, "You just put in the disks you need. Each combo makes a different song."

"I wanna put it in," Eddy said as he flew to the hedgehog.

"Okay, just put it in the hole and press down."

Eddy did as he was told exactly. Once the disk was in place, the four hedgehog siblings ran over to a large lever and grabbed on. It seemed stuck for a second but then moved. The machine seemed to spring to life as electricity ran through it. After about ten seconds, the sound of bells could be heard, almost as if something was hitting it in a pattern. The only word that could describe it was beautiful.

"May I have this dance?" Double D asked Nova.

Nova took her skirt and made a small curtsy in reply and said,

"You may."

_In Peach Creek…_

"_**I HATE HEARTLESS!**_"

The scream came from Matt as he shot another shadow that tried to grab his ankle. Oh how he would just love to blow all of them up.

"Nick, is that god damn machine ready yet?!" the hedgehog demanded as the brunette boy put together a long pole like object.

"Almost…got it!"

"Then hurry up and use it! I can't shoot thirty of these things at once!"

Nick lifted up the long pole before forcing the very end into the ground. A shock wave of white light was sent through out the ground, almost like a sound wave. Any Heartless with in three hundred miles disappeared back into the darkness where they came from.

"That should keep this town safe for a about an hour, the effects won't last long. Let's get those guys back here now," Nick said.

"Finally," Matt said as he pulled what looked like a box with a lever on it.

"Push it down in five… four, three, two, one!"

The hedgehogs pushed the plunger down.

_Mobius…_

The floor beneath them suddenly started to light up! There were several different reactions.

"Whoa! What's going on?!"

"I don't know!"

"ALIENS!"

"SHUT UP ED!"

"I think it's some kind of magic!"

"Brace yourselves!"

"Be ready for anything!"

"I'm scared!"

"I can't see anything Plank!"

"CHOA!"

"Dude, this is so not cool!"

"EEK! DON'T GO TOUCHING IN WEIRD PLACES!"

"I thought you were Nazz!"

"KEVIN?!"

"Leave Sarah alone!"

"Get off May!"

"Marie, I'm over here!"

Finally, the light died down and they could see again. The first thing the Peach Creek gang noticed was that they were humans again and second, they saw where they were. Only Double D could say what was on everyone's minds.

"We're back in the Cul-da-sac."


	6. Heartless

**Happy All Hallows Eve everyone! Here's the latest chapter!**

**Chapter six: Heartless**

The Mobians were astonished. _This_ is where their human friends lived?! It was much more different than anything they had ever seen. It seemed very peaceful.

"How did we get here?" Hotshot asked.

"I wish I knew," Double D mumbled.

"This is way too weird," Eddy said.

"My gut is telling me something is very, very off about all of this," Sonic said.

Scurry.

"Um, did anyone else hear that?" Eddy asked.

"If you mean something scurrying through the bushes, then yes," Sonia nodded.

"I'm scared, Double D," Tune squeaked, grabbing the smart Ed's hand.

There were no more movements, however, Rolf started shaking.

"What's with him?" Hotshot asked.

"ED?!"

The cry came from Sonia, who had noticed the great lump was shaking like a leaf.

"A great darkness looms over our heads," the two said together, despite their shaking. Their voices were dripping with fear. "Disaster is what it leads. Great darkness lives again four wander evils, their minds insane. They build their army starting with one the battle for peace has only begun. To travel is to find the face of a silver blaze, if not we all vanish into a black haze."

Everyone stared at them. Rolf, who seemed to snap out of his trance-like state, shook his head and mumbled something in his native tongue. Ed simply stared back at the other.

"Where'd that come from?" Eddy asked.

"I'm not sure," Double D squeaked.

"Didn't you say that these guys always get Fs in Literature bro?" Hotshot asked Eddy.

"Always."

"Nick, you are so evil," Matt said as he held his sides as he laughed.

The brunette's smirk spread far across his face. He had raised the I.Q.'s of Rolf and Ed to that of a rabbit's. And, as fate would have it, they were physic rabbits.

_On Mobius…_

"It sounds ridicules," King Aron said with a slight growl in his voice.

"That's what everyone says," Rush replied with her arms crossed.

"A hole in the sky that sucks everything up? Do you know how impossible that is?"

"For the fifth time, it's called the Void, and it's summoned by the Heartless when they capture the heart of a world. Without it, the whole planet is sucked into oblivion. And the Heartless have arrived on the Eds' world, and we can't hold them off for long. They'll reach the Heart it's only a matter of time. Evacuation of the planet has already begun."

"Then why did you send our children there?" Queen Aleena now asked.

"They need to know what they're up against, don't worry, we'll get them out of there in time."

"I should hope you would," Aron said in a harsh tone.

"Now, now Aron, I'd watch them tone of voice, you may become a Heartless yourself."

Aron simply glared and crossed his own arms over his chest.

"So, Aleena, when were you going to tell them about this?" Rush asked.

"…I was hoping to wait until they were older… I never expected them to have to deal with any of this, not after Robotnik took over…"

'Well, looks like they're gonna have to learn the hard way… I'm sorry it had to end up like this."

"I am too…"

_Peach Creek…_

"Let's go to my house, we'll hopefully be safe in there from… whatever that thing was," Eddy offered.

"Or get seen," Hotshot grumbled as he fiddled with one of the hoop earrings in his ear.

Eddy was the one who led everyone into his backyard, not wanting anyone see anyone enter his house. He opened the door to his bedroom and signaled for everyone to follow. Hotshot entered first while the mobians followed close behind with the humans blocking the rear view so anyone peeking over the back fence wouldn't see their dimensional friends. The mobians took their time to take in Eddy's room.

"Nice," Manic commented as he pointed to the disco ball.

"I was the on who did most of the designing," Hotshot said before flopping onto Eddy's circular bed.

"Did not! You designed _your_ bedroom!" Eddy snapped.

"So what if I did?"

Eddy let out a low growl.

"Say Hotshot, that car thingie of your's still work?" Sonic asked.

"Nah, thing doesn't travel through dimensions anymore, just on the road."

"I still do not see how that car of your's could travel through dimensions, Hotshot," Double D said.

"Eh, I try not to think about it too much," he shrugged.

"At least now I know why you put those bricks up in front of your window," Eddy shrugged.

"What, did you think I'd want someone seeing me travel between dimensions? I had to cover it up somehow or risk the government finding out about the whole thing."

"Oof, I don't want to imagine what that would be like," Eddy groaned.

Everyone started thinking, getting similar images in their minds. Most of them shivered at the thought.

"So, Hotshot, is it true that you have a snake in the trunk of that car?" Nazz asked.

"For the zillionth time, it's a robot snake to keep anyone from finding what I keep inside it," the blonde groaned.

"Namely the Sonic Underground CDs, adventure journals, songs, and such?" Eddy offered.

"Exactly. Wait, where did Ed go?"

A loud crash from the second story could be heard making most of them cringe.

"I think he broke into your room, bro," Eddy said.

Hotshot, not usually letting most people into his room, jumped up and ran out of Eddy's room.

"C'mon, I wanna see what happens when my bro beats him up!" Eddy said before following him.

The others, not sure of what else to do, followed. By the time they actually caught up to Hotshot, he was searching his pockets for the key to his room. Ed had locked the door when he went inside.

"Eddy, please don't tell me Mom has the key to my room," Hotshot growled.

"Alright, I won't."

"Oh for the love of-"

"Don't worry, I've got a spare."

Seconds later, a crowbar was being used to open the bedroom door. Eddy then kicked the door open despite his brother's protests, revealing Ed, pretending to ride the stuffed camel, repeating "North, to Alaska," over and over. Shadow, Manic, Sonic and Kevin were snickering at this.

"Big Ed, are you trying to be romantic?" May asked as she climbed up behind him.

"OFF THE CAMEL!" Hotshot yelled.

However, it was drown out by Ed yelling, **"YUCKY, MUSHY GIRL!"**

Sonia, however, was more interested in the marks on the wall.

"Number of dates?" she asked while tapping her foot.

Hotshot instantly started sweating.

"Uh, I can explain!"

Eddy couldn't help but snicker at the fact that his big bro was suddenly more focused on explaining himself than saving his camel which was now being dragged across the room by a panicking Ed.

_Elsewhere…_

The peace of Apple Cove, a small town just outside Twilight Town, was being shattered once again, as a fistfight between two small rival groups of kids and teenagers. Only a few stood aside, cheering their companions on. Fancy cheered on her brothers and friends as they fought against their top rival and his group.

"Give it up Ken, you and your gang are never gonna beat us!" Swipe said as he got him in a strangle hold.

It wasn't uncommon for the two groups to fight like this. Intel's group, the Emeralds, currently had the upper hand, or so they hoped. Ken's group, the Black Skulls, was known for fighting dirty, _very_ dirty.

"Text, get 'em from behind!" Ken ordered.

Intel turned as fast as he could to see the strongest member of the Black Skulls, Text, about to punch him. Intel ducked with the punch missing by literally only a few millimeters. Swipe currently had Ken himself in a headlock while Ace delivered a few punches and kicks to his gut. There fights were usually in more control but for some reason, nobody could hold his or herself back.

"STOP!"

Everyone froze in mid-punch, mid-kick, or mid-whack-Odd-with-a-stick in Dolly's case. Every turned to the source of the voice. Officer Reese stood just a few inches from the edge of the sandlot, tapping his foot as his blonde hair fell into his blue eyes. Even on his days off he wouldn't give them a break. He wasn't too fond of the Black Skulls but he did enjoy the company of the Emeralds, the worse they ever did was go around Twilight Town and Apple Cove looking for work to make some money for their next big idea.

"'Morning Officer Reese," Odd said before Dolly gave him a quick whack, "OW!"

"Lemme guess, this has something to do with the recent robberies and your accusing each other of doing the crime?" Reese asked.

"What else do you expect?" Dolly asked.

"How'd you know anyways? We just started?" Swipe asked.

"These young ladies here told me."

From behind the officer came two teenage girls dress completely in white, one was an albino human while the other was a very pale orange hedgehog. On the hedgehog's arms were burn scars seemingly spelling "Xix".

"They told me a fight was about to break out, so I came running. By the way Intel, thanks for the ring, I'm sure Grace will love it."

A panicked expression came to everyone's faces. They knew that look he was getting: it was the non-stop-talking look. It only happened when Reese started to talk about his wife and/or his unborn child you want to run for the hills. He becomes annoying beyond all reason, a very good reason to run.

"Oh no, here he goes," Ken groaned.

"I mean, how will I handle it if she has the baby tomorrow, emotionally I mean," the officer said at one point.

"Uh, Officer Reese, before you begin to even say anything else, might I offer a bit of female advice?" Beauty asked.

"Sure, what?"

"BABIES AREN'T BORN AFTER JUST FIVE MONTHS!"

Everyone sighed in relief, having a friend who was this guy's daughter certainly came in handy at times.

"Now Jax-"

"Daddy, this is your second child and my first sibling, please don't make me wish you guys weren't having another kid before the baby's even born!" Beauty half-begged.

The hedgehog with the scars, Xix, the decided to call her, covered her mouth to hold in a tiny snicker. As she did, Intel noticed something on her finger. It was a small ring with a pink jewel in the shape of a heart. It looked like one of his creations.

He didn't have much time to contemplate this for something-a shadow maybe-seemingly came out of nowhere. It moved at lightning sped, grabbed Xix by her wrist, and dragged her off at an amazing speed. Xix's screams got everyone's attention.

"What is that thing?!" Light shouted.

"Is it… the thief?" Beauty asked.

"It has the girl, after it!" Reese ordered.

Nobody protested as the officer led the chase.

_Elsewhere…_

"Well now, it seems the program is starting to develop a mind of its own isn't it…TEC?" the man with his head hidden asked.

"I simply did not wish to see them get injured any further," the computer replied in a calm yet monotonous voice.

"Yeah right, you'd do anything to get these guys out of your system and you know it," the teenage voice said.

"That is true, however, it was Xix and Pixel who performed this task," the computer replied.

"They truly are harder to control than they seem."

"Of course, they aren't your regular everyday Nobodies. They have their own minds and souls. They came to us willingly to help with this little "project" of yours

" Considering who's Nobodies they are, I wasn't really too surprised."

"Says you."

"Don't you have an accident to tend to Mighty, Commander?"

The second teenager, whom had remained quiet the entire time, slowly looked up. His eyes were empty and sad, what else would you expect from a spirit who had yet to part from the living world?

_Back in Peach Creek…_

The lights suddenly went out.

"Hey, what happened?!" Eddy shouted when he realized everything had vanished.

"It's just a blackout, it will be over soon enough," Double D answered.

"Um guys, you did say that there are bricks in front of the window, right?" Nazz's voice asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" Hotshot asked.

"If that's true, then why is there a purple light coming from it?"

"WHAT?! That can't be possible! That's more than three inches of bricks! There's no way any light can get in or out!" Hotshot snapped.

Double D moved closer to get a better look, just to make sure.

"She's right, there's a light but it's very faint," the young genius said.

"That can't be possible!" Hotshot cried.

"Well it is and personal-"

A loud and very clear BOOM suddenly came from above their heads!

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Hotshot cried.

BOOM! That last blast had forced everyone to the ground from the vibrations, also causing some objects to fall off the shelves.

"Is someone launching fireworks off the roof or something?!" Eddy snapped.

BOOM!

"I don't know but I am gonna find out, c'mon!" Hotshjot ordered as he stood back up, "Who's coming?"

"I'M IN!" came from the royal siblings almost as fast as Sonic and Shadow could run.

"Count me in, it's my house too!" Eddy said as he struggled to get to his feet.

"If our friend is heading into the fray, then we shall follow," Double D said.

"Double D is going, then I'll go too," Nova said quietly.

"Onward to the danger!" Ed declared.

BOOM!

"Rest of you guys comin'?" Hotshot asked them.

"Why should we?" Kevin asked.

"Well for starters, this room won't be safe much longer if this keeps up!" Hotshot started, "And what if a fire starts? You obviously can't get out through the window, and at this moment, I'd have to say the safest place is currently the roof."

The next BOOM was much more violent then the rest and made it a struggle to stay on their feet.

"Alright, alright, we'll come, just get us out of here!" Kevin snapped.

_On the roof…_

"You said that gizmo of yours keeps the Heartless away but does it? Noooooo, it only brings them in swarms!" Matt screamed as he lit another firework's rocket at the army of Heartless that was not trying to break into the house.

"I said it was a work in progress!" Nick said as he lit his own rocket in the on-coming mob.

"Then why'd you use if you didn't know it would work?!" Matt demanded.

"It's called field testing now get off my back and help launch this thing!" Nick shouted as he dropped his match and lifted up a bazooka.

Matt put in two rockets in that back and then stood back.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

Nick pulled the trigger, sending the two rockets into the swarm. The rocket exploded upon hitting the crowd, causing only a few of the heartless to change their course.

"DAMNITDAMNITDAMNITDAMNIT!" the blonde screamed, failing to notice the hatch on the roof that was starting to lift up.

"What the hell is going on up here?" Hotshot asked.

The hedgehog on the roof turned to them in shock.

"Crap, as if we didn't have enough problems already!" he snapped.

"Forget it," the brunette boy next to him said and then turn to the others, "Don't just stand there, start firing rockets!"

"Wait, what's a Mobian doing on Earth? We're the only ones here!" Sonic exclaimed.

"We'd explain but right now we've got an army trying to break into the house!" the hedgehog cried before lighting another firework.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! THAT COULD WRECK THE HOUSE!" Hotshot cried.

"Would you rather be turned into that?" the hedgehog snapped as he pointed over the side of the roof.

Double D looked beyond the two to see a sea of darkness around the house, not even the streetlights were on.

"What's doing on here?" he demanded in a semi-calm, semi-panicked voice.

"We'd explain but this thing's about to go off!!" the hedgehog said as he covered his ears.

The fuse was about a quarter of the way to the end when the boy released the rocket, sending it into the darkness below. When it exploded, it seemed to toss up what looked like creatures with bright and creepy yellow eyes.

"Wha… What are those things?" Sarah asked, now somewhat freaked out at the strange sight.

"Heartless," the hedgehog said as he lifted up what looked like a bazooka.

"What are Heartless?" Tune asked as he gripped Nova's skirt.

"No time for explanations, surviving now," the hedgehog said before pulling the trigger to the weapon on his shoulder.

It whizzed into the darkness and tossed up more of the creatures, but not nearly enough to stop them.

"Damn it, Cyan, we need help now!" the hedgehog told… the watch on his wrist?

"What is going on here Double D?" Ed asked.

"I think we're about to find out Ed," the smartest of the Eds replied.

_Freedom Zone…_

"Yeesh, you think they'd never taken on a single heartless before," Cyan sighed.

"Shouldn't you call Rush, just to make sure she can help them in time?" Kenny asked the hybrid-girl.

"If this keeps up, they'll get the World Heart in less than five, ten minutes tops," Eric said.

"Huh, it'll be a new record if they do," Cyan said as she kicked back.

"CYAN!" all four boys cried at her.

"Alright, alright but know that Rush ain't gonna be happy with you even if you do this," Cyan said as she pressed a few buttons on the watch-like communicator on her wrist.

As she did so, the boys turned back to the TV, which had several different screens on it, showing everything that was happening. They were concerned for their old childhood friend even though they hadn't actually played around like they used to in quite some time. They turned to the screen in the top left corner where Rush had been talking to Queen Aleena and King Aron.

"Go ahead," she said.

"Rush, it's Cyan, the idiots are in serious trouble," they heard Cyan say behind them.

"Which ones, the ones you're babysitting or my idiots?" Rush asked.

"Yours and they're being outnumbered by the Heartless, if it keeps up they won't stand a chance in Hell to escape, I mean, we've practically lost the World Heart already, but we don't need to "donate" to their army."

"Right, where are they and how bad is it?"

"They're on the roof of Eddy's house and the Heartless have it completely surrounded. They won't last long and the Peach Creek kids and the Mobians are still ins- Oh, never mind, they just got onto the roof."

"Right, I'll be there in two shakes of your tail."

After saying this, Rush pressed a different button on her communicator and vanished from the screen, causing it to vanish. She reappeared on the large screen in the middle, which the others were overlapping.

"Things are about to get interesting," Cyan said calmly as she flopped onto her couch.


	7. A Doomed World

**Chapter seven: A Doomed World**

Within the center of Rush's half of the Freedom Zone was a collection of special fountains and what made them so special would make Double D want to place someone in an insane asylum for even suggesting such ideas. One released good dreams and guided whomever slumber through happy times, while another granted all of your wishes, as long as they were of good intention and another made music from its magical waters that would enchant and entrain anyone whom visited it. One special fountain went far below the ground, with several tunnels that snaked underground, allowing the god that lived in it to come and go as he pleased. The water was also home to many other creatures that knew and played with this god regularly and were always able to tell what he was feeling when he changed the warmed of the water. However, as of late, those happy times were gone and replaced with fear and terror and the fountain to longer bubbled with life and play. No creature that lived in those waters was safe and they knew it. They were frightened and why shouldn't they be? After all, what could be powerful enough to frighten the God of Destruction himself?

Said god had emerged from the water and stood on it to stare into the Outer Space-like sky. His water-like green eyes were focused into the abyss, staring at something no one else could see. He had felt the shift in reality the second it opened up and this all began and yet was unable to stop it. One of the smaller creatures emerged from the water and jumped onto the edge of the fountain.

"What's wrong?" it asked in its foreign language.

The god made bubbling sounds that, when translated, meant,

"All of existence is in danger, in all of the dimensions."

"But, what's the problem exactly?" the little creature asked.

"It is called the Void and if it is not stopped it will suck up all of the dimensions with the help of the Heartless."

"But they won't get here will they?"

"It would take a long time for them to get here, they would have to destroy all of the other worlds to do it but at the rate they are progressing at it will only be a matter of time."

"Chaos, is the World's Heart going to be stolen like the other worlds?"

"I do not know although I wish I did Whooper."

The small water pokemon simply sighed before jumping off the side of the fountain and onto the ground. Those who could have already left the fountain to find a new place to live, even Latias and Latios had left to find a happier place to live.

"Chaos, none of like how dreary the water has become, that's why we're leaving," the little Whooper said quietly. "Even the Choa are ready to leave soon, just so you know."

"Yes, of course. I will not keep them here if they do not wish to stay."

"I'd say goodbye Chaos, but once things are back to normal we'll all comeback, I know we will."

Chaos watched as the small pokemon disappeared around a corner to find where the others had disappeared to and the god turned his head back to the sky and thought,

Things may never go back to normal Whooper, as long as the Heartless are still free in the worlds.

_Peach Creek…_

"LAUNCH!" Matt yelled as he pulled the trigger.

His new weapon, the ZX3 Fourth Model, launched an odd bomb above the swarm of Heartless and exploded in the air, causing a huge burst of light to appear in the sky. The Heartless hissed at the burst of light and they retreated, leaving only the strongest to endure the painful light. The humans and mobians on the roof were staring at the light in awe. It didn't hurt their eyes to stare at it as badly as it would the sun or a light bulb even though it was much brighter than either of those objects.

"It only lasts a few minutes." Matt told them, "Go to your houses, get whatever you deem valuable and bring it back here, otherwise you'll never see it again! The Mobians will stay here with us."

"What are you talking about dude?" Nazz asked.

"I'd explain if we had the time, now move it!" the hedgehog snapped as he reloaded his large weapon. "Meet us in the Cul-da-sac, we'll handle the rest."

The kids looked at each other in concern. Why was he so panicked and what if his weapon didn't hold off those creatures, the Heartless, for long?

"Move, it should last long enough for you to get your stuff and if it goes out I'll fire another one," Matt ordered, "Now move it before they return!"

The kids didn't even remember when they started running they just did, almost on instinct. The kids went their separate ways once they reached the street, simply going around any of the Heartless that still lingered, for they seemed to be too weak to even lift their heads.

On the roof of Eddy's house, the Mobians watched as their friends went their separate ways while the strange boys turned to see the only female on their team of three appear in a quick flash of light.

"So," she said, "what I miss?"

_The Kanker Sisters' trailer…_

Now the Kankers may have been violent and had some slight differences but they knew if they was one thing they knew they had to take with them anyway they went it was their ship-in-a-bottle.

"May, get some food and water, Marie you get our clothes, I've got the ship-in-a-bottle," Lee ordered.

"Who made you the boss?!" Marie demanded.

"Marie, we don't have time for this, just do it!" May called from the kitchen as she threw some bags of chips into a large sleeping bag she was using as a sack.

The blue-haired girl let a small growl before she climbed the stairs that led to their bedroom. Lee, using a chair as a stool, reached up and carefully took down their ever so precious ship-in-a-bottle.

"Hey, where'd Mom and everyone else go?" Lee asked when she noticed their mother was no-where in sight.

"You don't think those Heartless things got 'em do you?" May asked.

"How the heck should I know?" Lee asked as she held the ship-in-a-bottle under her arm.

A large laundry bag was thrown down the stairs and hit with a thump. Marie slid down on the hand railing, with the stuffed toys they made to look like their so-called "boyfriends".

"Here, you can thank me for remembering them later," Marie said as she tossed the Ed doll to May and the Eddy doll to Lee.

"Whatever," Lee said as she grabbed a red backpack from the floor.

May picked her own backpack up from the kitchen table while Marie was already wearing her blue one, which she had found in their bedroom.

"C'mon, let's scram before those things come back and do whatever it is they do to people," Lee said as she held the door open for her younger sisters.

_Jimmy's house…_

Jimmy had finally finished packing his favorite clothes into a suitcase, including his Urban Rangers uniform and all his badges and was now packing all of his dolls and stuffed animals into a duffle bag. In his backpack were his cookbooks, novels and art supplies. He simply couldn't live without them to keep him entertained. In one arm he carried his pet goldfish, not intending to leave them behind.

"That's everyone Mr. Yumyum," Jimmy told his stuffed bunny, "But I wonder where Mother and Father are, they're never this late getting home from work."

Mr. Yumyum said nothing.

"Dolly, what do you think?"

The pink doll made no sound.

"Oh bother. Well, we best hurry before those… whatever they are come back."

In Jimmy's mind, Mr. Yumyum spoke.

"Yes, they are very terrifying, aren't they?"

_Johnny's house…_

Johnny was in a panic, Plank was screaming that the world was coming to an end the other trees had said so! The trees never lied unless they were being used! Even the rocks were panicking! They were having breakdowns left and right.

"I already told you Plank, there's nothing we can do to save them!" the boy said as he start shoving things into his Urban Rangers backpack, including the uniform and badges as well as Plank's.

Johnny was mostly filling his backpack with seemingly random objects to anyone else but to him, they were as priceless as another human's life. He also included bottled water, fruits, scouting books and books that listed what was safe and unsafe to eat out in the wild and what different plants cured what.

"Plank, you're really starting to scare me now, please stop talking," Johnny begged as he pushed three sweaters in a duffel bag.

"I WILL NOT BE QUIET! THE WORD IS COMING TO ITS DOOM JOHNNY! TO IT'S DOOM!" Was screamed in Johnny's mind by the panicking Plank.

"Listen, buddy, I'd move faster if I knew what you were so scared of," Johnny retaliated as he zipped the duffel bag up.

I will not repeat what Plank said after that, for it had more than twenty swear words being caused by pure terror.

"I cannot believe you just said that," Johnny said in astonishment.

_Nazz's house…_

Nazz was stuffing her backpack full of her favorite CDs, her portable CD player, clothes, some food, water, her martial arts medals and belts and last but not least her diary. She took just a few minutes to write in it.

_Dear Diary, September/10/99_

_Something really weird is going on here in Peach Creek. I only have a few minutes so I'll brief. First we saw this weird TV broadcast that was being sent from Mobius, then Hotshot came back, then there was this weird music that we followed into the woods. After that, we were transported to Mobius. After catching up the royal siblings and some of the others, we were transported back to Earth where these black creatures started attacking Eddy's house but we were saved by this boy and a black and green hedgehog. The hedgehog just sent us back to out houses to get anything we think is important to us. I have to go now those black things could be back at any second._

_Nazz_

Closing the small pink book, Nazz placed it and the pen she was writing with in her backpack.

"I hope this doesn't end badly."

As Nazz was zipping up her backpack, she suddenly remembered something.

"Lacy Lucy."

Nazz opened her bedroom closet and looked up. Sitting on the top of her closet shelves was a porcelain doll dressed in a white dress decorated lace and had with long blonde locks, just like Nazz used to have when she was younger. It was a precious gift from her grandmother, who once made living on making these dolls. Nazz carefully reached up and took down the doll. Nazz had always loved her grandmother but her business had grown so large that she had to move far away to manage it. Lacy Lucy was all she had left of her.

"No way am I leaving you behind," Nazz said as she carefully placed the doll in her backpack. "Okay, I'm ready for whatever that hedgehog has in store for us."

_Rolf's farm…_

Rolf has almost forgotten to go inside to get his material items. He just hastily threw some clothes, some of his harvest and water into his backpack before hurrying into the backyard to gather up his animals.

"Victor, stop dawdling! We must hurry! The end is coming!"

Rolf strapped all of his animals to his backpack a climbed onto his cow, Bootsie.

"Run Bootsie, the world as we know it is coming to an end!" the farm boy screeched as he kick his cow in the sides, making her move.

_Kevin's house…_

Kevin as throwing his sports trophies and medals into his backpack while he threw his clothes, sports equipment and some food and water bottles into a duffel bag.

"Okay, I think that's everything," he said as he placed his final medal into his backpack. "Let's see, clothes, food, water, medals, trophies, sports stuff, am I forgetting anything?"

That's when he saw a picture frame on his nightstand. It held a photo of a teenager about Kevin's age with red hair, a football player's outfit and a familiar red cap on his head. On his shoulder sat a younger Kevin, in happier times for his family. In the bottom right corner of the photo, written in black ink was _Jordan Atoms, 1983-1995_.

Kevin stared at the photo for about ten seconds before picking it up and placing it in his backpack. He didn't know why though, since… the accident, things in his family had just fallen apart. His parents stared going on longer business trips, his relatives moved away, his cousins started drugs and getting arrested, he started getting in trouble, his grades dropped and more.

"Why'd this hafta happen?" Kevin asked him self as he put his backpack over his shoulders and grabbed his duffel bag.

It was an accident that caused his grief but none of the other kids knew about it. It happened before he moved to Peach Creek, so none of the others knew and he wouldn't tell them. He didn't want them to know.

_Sarah's bedroom…_

Like Jimmy, Sarah was packing up her toys and like Nazz, she was taking her diary with her. In it she wrote:

_Dear Diary, September/10/1999_

_Some weird Mobian Hedgehog is making us take everything important to us to… wherever he's taking us. I find the whole thing suspicious, but there are black things outside and they're trying to kill us! The hedgehog used some sort of bazooka to make a huge ball of light appear in the sky and it made the black things disappear, but he says it won't last for long. I'm writing this thing as fast as I can so I can get back to him and his human friend. It's really weird. That's all for now, I'll write more later._

With that, Sarah closed her diary and placed it in her backpack.

"Hm, I wonder what's taking Ed so long?" Sarah wondered as she put her backpack on and grabbed a duffel bag.

_Ed's bedroom…_

Ed, as could be expected, was stuffing his backpack full of his B-rated movies, models, video games and whatever else he liked.

"Ed cannot go without you Baron O' Beef Dip," the tallest of the Eds told his model as he placed it next to his rocket model.

"ED, HURRY IT UP!" Sarah called from the first floor.

"Ed will be there baby sister, he must just get his guitar, keyboard and drums and he will be right there!" Ed called.

Ed at first only meant to get his instruments until he remembered Double D and Eddy had also been performing down there and had brought along their own instruments as well. Ed looked to where they had left their instruments but they weren't there. Instead, right where they had left them, were three gold rings. Ed picked up one. On the ring was an emerald cut into the shape of a quarter note. Surrounding the note were three smaller emeralds and that was all. He then looked at the other rings. They the exact same except for the kind of jewel that was on them. One had rubies while the other had topaz.

"Where are our things?" Ed asked aloud.

"ED! HURRY UP!"

Ed knew that his sister was angry and that usually meant that he was going to get hurt if he didn't hurry. He decided to not think too much about it, which was rather easy for him. So he simply placed the rings in his pocket, grabbed his bag and raced up stairs.

_Double D's house…_

Double D was carefully placing his folded clothes into a suitcase, including his spare hats and pajamas and his laptops on top of them. In a folds he placed all of his sheet music and into a slot in the suitcase. In his backpack he placed all of his books, how he managed to fit all of them into that small backpack the world may never know. He placed his cactus Jim on his bed along with his ant farm. He didn't intend on leaving them.

"Alright, I do believe that is everything," the boy said as he checked everything over. "I suppose I should take some other supplies as well."

Double D, being abnormally calm, walked into his kitchen and opened his fridge. He put some fruits and vegetables into plastic bags, loafs of bread and plenty of bottled water ad put them all into a duffel bag.

"I believe that should be enough," Double D concluded.

He reached into his shirt and pulled out the Medallion of Music. He just had to make sure it was there, as he usually did before and after school.

"Just what is going on?" he finally questioned.

Double D sighed, gathered up everything and walked out the front door.

_Eddy's room…_

Eddy had already packed all of his magazines and CDs, all that was left was getting the Sonic Underground CD from under his mattress. He reached under it and felt around for about five seconds before finding it. He carefully pulled out the CD case and stared at the picture in the front of the case. It wasn't a picture but rather photo, one that Hotshot had taken of the royal siblings the day he had to leave and to never return… but he did return. Eddy, deciding not to think too much about it, placed the CD in his backpack

"Hey bro, hurry it up in there!" Eddy called to the kitchen.

"Shut up, at least one of us is thinking about supplies!" Hotshot called from the kitchen.

_In the kitchen…_

Hotshot was packing only the bare essentials, such as food, water and a few other supplies that may come in handy. Being a trained Freedom Fighter was always helpful in times of crisis, but he was not trained for something like this. The dyed black ends of his blonde hair felt falling his face as he packed, but he completely ignored them.

"I swear, these kids wouldn't have lasted a full week in Robotropolis alone without the others," he growled under his breath. "Oi Eddy, hurry it up!"

"I'm coming!"

Eddy came running into the kitchen while trying not to trip over his own feet.

"I think this should be enough," Hotshot said as he placed his backpack on his back.

"Then let's get out of here! I don't wanna get killed by those Heartless things!" Eddy said as he opened the front door.

"Alright, I'm coming!" Hotshot said as he ran past his brother and towards the center of the Cul-da-sac. Eddy followed him, forgetting to close the front door in the process.

When the last of the kids, the Kankers, finally arrived, the strange boys walked up to them, with a brown-haired girl and the mobians right behind them.

"That's everyone," the black and green hedgehog said.

"Alright," the brunette said.

"Wait a minute, you're that girl I saw in the park this afternoon," Double D said.

"Nicely done Sherlock, but I believe we have more pressing matters to worry about," she said somewhat harshly.

There was a sudden gust of wind but they barely paid any attention to it.

BEEP! BEEP!

The girl looked at the watch on her wrist.

"Rush, get out of there! The Heartless have reached the World Heart!" a voice cried from it.

"Already? Damn, they're getting faster," the black hedgehog said as he too looked at the watch.

"Alright, we'll be leaving this world at once!" the brown-haired boy said.

"Wait, what do you mean "leave this world at once"?' Hotshot asked when he heard that sentence."

"We need to leave this plane of reality," the girl said as she pressed a few buttons on the watch.

"Oh no, we are not going anywhere!" Hotshot said with a stomp of his foot.

"Yeah, you have some explaining to do!" Lee added.

"Okay, we can waste the precious few minutes that we have left on this planet or you could wait a few minutes and avoid getting sucked into THAT!" The brunette pointed to the sky as she said the last word.

Everyone looked up and gasped.

Looming in the sky was a black hole, surrounded by purple clouds and powerful winds sucking anything not bolted to the ground into its abyss.

"W-What is that thing?" Tune asked.

"It's called the Void and it's going to suck up this world," the brunette girl said, "with us on it if we don't go right now!"

"Then how do you expect us to do that?!" Shadow demanded.

"Like this: Perdita activate the teleporter!" she now called into the watch.

A beam of light shot down from the sky, past the hole and made contact with them.

"What is this?" Double D asked.

"Our way off a doomed world," the black and green hedgehog said.

"Brace yourselves!" the brunette boy added before they disappeared into the light.

_Just outside Apple Cove…_

Intel had managed to track down the black creature to the woods that separated it from Twilight Town but had lost track of the others in the process. Said creature was now in a clearing, holding the hedgehog-girl by the wrist.

_"Now Intel, don't you ever give up?"_

The voice was strange and unfamiliar, but where did it come from?

"Don't listen to him Intel!" came from Xix, "He's trying to trick you!"

_"Why would I have reason to do that?"_

From the shadows of the trees came a black and grey-blue hedgehog with cat-eyes. He looked like a black and grey version of Light, except his muzzle was extremely pale, he didn't seem to blink and he had no mouth.

"Who… Who are you?" Intel asked, getting a strange feeling from him.

_"My name is Mephiles… Mephiles the Dark…"_

"Intel, run, he's going to-"

_"SILENCE XIX!"_

The black creature, which looked some-what like a spider, bite into her flesh, causing the hedgehog to scream.

"Let her go!" Intel demanded.

_"Know you're place child, you will never stand against me."_

"No, but I can try!"

Intel then did something most people would consider suicide if they knew just who this dark hedgehog was: he charged

_Cosmic Interstate…_

"NOT AGAIN!" Double D screamed.

"Get used to it newbie, we travel this way a lot," the brunette said.

"So we're going back to Mobius, right?" Eddy asked.

"Wrong, we're going somewhere else," the brunette boy said.

"Where?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, aren't Mobius and Earth the only two dimensions?" Sonia asked.

The three looked at each other and laughed.

"Yeah right, there's thousands more than just your worlds!" the black and green hedgehog said.

"Then, where are we going?" Manic asked.

"You'll find out in about…5, 4, 3, 2, 1!"

A flash of light came from the end of the tunnel they were falling through, causing them to close their eyes, again. When they opened their eyes, they were standing up right in a field of flowers with trees scattered everywhere. Then they looked to the sky. It was a pasty blue with bright stars shining in it, despite it being day out with comets and shooting stars seemingly dancing across the sky. And, just a few hundred feet in the air was a floating building that was slowly bobbing up and down.

"Where are we now?" Double D asked the brunette girl.

That was when an Omochoa flew up them and it's cute voice said,

"Peach Creek kids, Mobians, welcome to the Freedom Zone."


	8. The World Wanderers

**Chapter eight: The World Wanderers**

"The Freedom Zone?" Double D asked.

The girl answered for the Omochoa with, "Hai hai." (Japanese for yes, yes.)

"You mean… we're in a new dimension?" Sonic asked.

"Yep, and in one of the most important ones," the Omochoa said in it's cute voice.

"What's so important about this weird place and who are you guys?" Eddy asked as he looked around.

"We're World Wanderers team Alfa, first class, I'm Flame, weapons specialist, medic and second in command of our team," the hedgehog said.

"I'm Nick of World Wanderers team Alfa, first class, mechanics specialist, pilot, nut-job, part time idiot and third in command," the brunette boy said.

"And I'm Rush of World Wanderers team Alfa, first class, leader of team Alfa, combat specialist, zoologist, cryptologist and mythical creature expert and second in command of our entire organization," the brunette girl said.

"World Wanderers?" Double D asked.

"Hai, it's not your average everyday organization, it has a very special purpose," the brunette, Rush, said with a nod, "Omochoa, tell his royal pain that we failed and the world was destroyed."

"Will do Rush," the small robot said with a salute and flew off.

"Tell me, what is this purpose and what does it have to do with us and what happened back on our world?" Double D asked.

"In that order, 1) we protect the world order from destruction and anyone who would cause unspeakable harm to that reality, 2) the fact that world has just been destroyed and we just saved your lives from a serious threat to all of existence, and 3) your world was just sucked into the abyss known as the Void and most likely destroyed upon entrée," Flame said.

"WHAT?!" came from the mouths of Mobius' heroes.

"But our families were on Earth!" Jimmy said, "Which means…"

"Calm down kid, your folks and families are just fine, we evacuated the planet before the Heartless could get 'em," Flame said in a calm voice.

"The Heartless, you mean those black creatures?" Double D asked.

"Those without hearts, the heartless will do anything to plunge a world into complete and utter darkness. They summon the Void by stealing the World Heart or more commonly known as the Planet Egg," Nick explained.

"World Heart? Planet Egg?" Eddy asked.

"Those eggs won't make you any breakfast Eddy, they're what allow a planet to nurture and sustain life. Withou-"

"Wait, how did you know my name?" Eddy cut her off.

"Oh, we know everything about you Eddy, the same for the rest of you," Nick said.

"What, we don't even know you!" Sonia exclaimed.

"No, but we know you, Princess Sonia Hedgehog. World Wanderers has an entire file on every creature in every single dimension, including you guys. We know everything, but we aren't allowed to see the files until they happen or have already happened," Nick explained.

"How can you do that?" Shadow asked.

"We'd tell you, but then we'd have to kill you," the three said together in monotone.

None of them said anything.

"Now, may I continue with explaining the World Hearts?" Rush asked.

Nobody responded.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Now, without the World Heart AKA Planet Egg, a planet loses its ability to sustain life of those who inhabit it. A desert planet would become covered in water, a winter planet would melt away and so on. In short, planets just become cold baron rocks, drifting in space. However, if it's the Heartless who steel them, something different happens. They summon the Void, an abyss that sucks up planets and everything on them."

"Is… Is that what happened to our world?" Kevin asked in a nervous voice.

"Yep, but don't worry, if we fail to stop the Heartless, we evacuate the planet and bring the inhabitants here, to this dimension. Everyone is safe," Rush explained.

"You couldn't have left our teachers?" Eddy grumbled.

"Eddy!" Double D and Hotshot scolded.

"We get that a lot," Rush said.

"Do you also get a lot of giant buses come driving right at you in a field a lot?" Kevin asked.

"No, why do you ask?" Flame asked.

"Because here comes one NOW!" Kevin screamed as he point behind the threesome.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Flame yelled as he turned around.

Sure enough, a huge bus was tearing across the field, headed right for them!

"Beat it!" Rush yelled as she dove in one direction and the boys jumped in the opposite direction with the heroes of Mobius following them.

The bus ran right where they had been standing and showed no signs of stopping. It continued through the field and disappeared behind the trees.

"Road hog!" Sonic called as he shook his fist.

"Murdoc, I am _so_ taking away your license!" Rush yelled at the bus once it had safely passed them by.

"You know that guy?" Hotshot asked as he point to the bus.

"Much to mine and many others' misfortune," Rush said as she stood up and began to dust herself off.

"We've had to suspend his license too many times to count for reckless driving but we can't put 'im in jail," Flame said, "And before you ask, it's because he has the cash to bailout every time and he'd flirt with the girls and most likely do 'it' with any of the girls he could find. He once even made a move on my sister and when she was done with him, he needed surgery to get his… ahem, "stones" back into place… after we looked for them in a cannel."

"What's 'it' and what are stones and do I have them?" Jimmy asked.

The older kids looked at Jimmy with somewhat disturbed faces and slowly backed away.

"In that order: you'll find out when you're older, and second, I'll tell you later and I sometimes doubt that you do." Rush said somewhat calm, somewhat shaky.

Naturally, Kevin, Eddy, Flame, Sonic, Manic and Hotshot started laughing at Rush's final comment.

"Honestly," Sonia said as she placed her fists on her hips.

"Just tellin' it how it is," Rush said as she placed her hands behind her head in a strange fashion.

"What now?" Eddy asked.

"What do you mean?" Flame asked.

"We're in a new dimension, separated from our families, have no idea how things work here and have no place to go. We're stranded," the shortest of the Eds explained.

"Oh that, we've already got'cha covered," Flame said.

"How so?" Double D asked.

"We're ordering ya a room at the sweetest hotel in the entire Freedom Zone!'

There was a moment of silence.

"Uh, Matt, don't you actually hafta call the hotel and book a room?" Rush asked him.

"Oh, right, Nick, can you let me barrow your phone, mine's charging back at the base," the hedgehog asked the older boy.

"Hold on, I have it here… somewhere."

They watched as Nick started to dig into his pockets, expecting him to pull out the cell phone at once, but they were about to learn just how weird the Freedom Zone was.

"Hold on, I got something, giving me a hand here," Nick told the hedgehog.

"Pull on three," Flame said as he wrapped his hand around Nick's wrist. "One, two… THREE!"

They both gave a strong tug and pull out not something small but… a BOULDER?!?!

"DUDE!" Kevin screamed.

"WHOA!" came from the royal siblings.

"So that's where I left it," Nick said as he dropped the giant rock.

"B-B-B-But how is t-t-t-t-that possible?!" Double D cried at the sight.

"Oh, you mean the whole 'pulling-giant-object-out-of-a-small-container' thing?" Rush asked.

"Yes, exactly! How did they do that!" Hotshot demanded.

"Oh that, the physics of this dimension are as tipsy as a sailor after having fifteen heavy beers. Things aren't as stable as they were in your dimensions. Here, there are no limitations to what a person can do. Things are so tipsy here that we use cliché cartoon antics to do our jobs half the time," Rush said as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe.

"…Baloney!" Kevin accused.

Rush's face then did a strange thing. Her eyes became two black vertical lines attached to two horizontal lines that had been her eyebrows.

"H-How'd you do that?" Eddy asked as he pointed at her.

"It's the unstable nature of this dimension, it's an anime move as we call 'em, if you don't believe me I can give you a demonstration to the two guys I hate the most of your group," Rush offered as her mouth, which was now shaped like the number three, simply moved up and down but did not open.

"Alright, prove it," Kevin said as he crossed his arms and held his bags in one hand.

For a second he closed his eyes. It was a bad idea to do that. The next thing Kevin knew, he was being punched by a boxing glove that was attached to a sort of extension that shot out when you moved the two ends. The punch sent him flying about ten feet before landing.

"Ow," he groaned.

"Now do you believe me?" Rush asked as the boxing glove retreated back. She was the one holding the strange device.

"Yes," Kevin said in a groan of pain.

Double D slowly turned his gaze back to Flame and Nick. There were now many different objects scattered around them, including a tractor, an anchor, an octopus, a monster truck and so on.

"C'mon Nick, which damn pocket did you put your stupid phone in?!" Flame demanded as he reached farther into his friend's pocket.

"Uh… I don't know," the brunette said in his 'dumb' voice, he usually used that voice for that specific sentence seeing as how it came up regularly.

"Oh brother, hold on, I'm going in there," Flame said.

Flame pulled Nick's pocket, which somehow stretched out to a certain length before the hedgehog climbed into the pocket. The pocket then snapped back into place. Double D looked ready to faint at the laws of physics so suddenly being bent into an unbelievable position.

"Get used to it," Rush told him without even seeing his face, "That's normal here."

"How normal?" Jimmy asked.

"As normal as breathing, sleeping and eating," Rush listed.

"Oh my, that normal?" Double D asked.

"Yeah, but you get used to it right away."

"Found it!" Flame called from within the pocket and holding the phone out for them to see, "It was behind his retro video game collection."

"Now that it's found make the call," Rush said.

"Got it!"

The phone retreated back into the pocket and the sound of numbers being dialed could be heard. Rush then remembered something important when letting her brother use the phone.

"And don't call your girlfriend first!" she called.

"You can't tell me what to do! I'm the ruler of the Freedom Zone!"

"Yeah, only _half_ of it! The rest is mine!" Rush barked.

"Details, who cares about them?"

"Brat," Rush mumbled under her breath.

"My, are they rivals?" Double D asked Nick.

"If you count sibling rivalry then yeah," Nick said as the hedgehog in his pocket chattered into the cell phone.

"Those two are siblings? But-"

Before he could ask his question, Eddy was cut off by someone jumping off his, Double D's and Ed's heads… with hover boards?!

"What the?!"

"Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow and Storm the Albatross, freeze, you are under arrest!"

What looked like hover unit version of police cars fell over their heads with their lights flashing. They were chasing the people that had decided their heads were jumps.

"What was that?" Eddy asked as he rubbed his slowly forming bump.

"In order of appearance," Rush began, "Those three figures were the Babylon Rouges, a small group of thieves who use their hover boards, specifically known as extreme gear, as their main mode of transportation and get away. Their group is made up of the following: Jet the Hawk, leader of the Babylon Rouges, Wave the Swallow, mechanic of the Babylon Rouges and Storm the Albatross the muscle behind the group. The ones trying to arrest them are the Physics Police and they- Wait, THE PHYSICS POLICE?!"

"WHAT?!" came from Nick, "What are they doing here?! This is outside their jurisdiction!"

"You think I don't know that?" Rush asked, "I am _SO_ getting a lawsuit on this one! GET BACK HERE!"

Rush then started running after the strange hover units, screaming how they were outside their jurisdiction the entire time.

"The Physics Police?" Double D asked.

"They're our only competition in inter-dimensional protection," Nick explained, "And they take the laws of physics way too seriously. Whenever we visit their base for whatever reason, and we rarely ever have to do mind you, we are not allowed to use our gags and fun tricks at all, period, because we'd be arrested if we do. They're also too military-like. I mean if they were any more tightly wound up they might burst."

They slowly followed Rush as she ran after the hovering units across the field and screeching the entire time.

"Well, we have a room booked for you guys now," Flame said as he stuck out his head from Nick's pocket. That was when he saw his sister. "The Physics Police again?"

"Yep," came from Nick.

"And Rush is pissed again?"

"Yep."

"Well, I got them a room, let's grab Rush before she pulls a muscle and get over there," Flame said as he climbed out of Nick's pocket and called, "Hey sis, stop scarin' them and get over here, I got them a room at the Candy Motel!"

That made Rush stop so fast that she literally stopped on a dime. If you knew her personally, you'd know that simply adores candy, especially chocolate, like any other girl.

"Then what are we waiting for, Freedom Week? Let's move it!"

"C'mon, the Candy Motel is in Rush's half of the Freedom Zone," Nick told the others, most of whom were examining Kevin for any bleeding from Rush's boxing glove-device.

"But what about Kevin?" Nazz asked while her hand was placed on Kevin's forehead.

"Oh that's easy: Medicbots!" Rush called.

Two robots that were painted white with red crosses painted on their fronts quickly hovered up to Rush. They had small red screen for eyes, white arms and black claws on their hands.

"Take care of the jock jerk and then take him to the Candy Motel, we'll be waiting, oh and get our confessions specialist there too, there's someone here who's had a long overdue punishment in this group," Rush told the robots.

"Wait, overdue punishment? What do you mean?" Double D asked.

Rush simply turned to him, winked, raided her index finger in a cute fashion and said,

"You'll see and you'll be thanking us later. Now c'mon, the Candy Motel isn't gonna wait forever."

The two robots lifted Kevin up and flew over into the distance much faster than the heroes expected. They began walking, following the three strange agents.

"Don't worry, he'll only have minor bruising and a headache, that's all the Equalizer does," Flame told them.

"The Equalizer, is that what that thing was?" Johnny asked.

"Yep, and it's a level one weapon, it's only for the weakest enemies," Flame continued.

"Then Kevin must be pretty pathetic compared to the guys you deal with," Eddy said with a shrug.

"Nah, here, when we say weak or weakness we mean weakness of the heart, otherwise the most likely to become a Heartless. Rush used it on Kevin partly because he's a prime candidate for the Heartless and partly because she just doesn't like him."

"What, why not?" Nazz demanded.

"Because he's a jerk to the Eds, and among the things you should know about my sister, is that she does not, at all, tolerate bullying in any way, shape, or form. If she catches you breaking her rule of no bullying, she'll kick yer ass."

"You never explained how you two are siblings," Hotshot told the small hedgehog.

"Oh that, we have this machine, about the size of your average roboticizer, that can change your molecular structure as long as you think about what it is that you wanna become. I'm really a human, but I use this form to hide from all the crazy girls who have a crush on me. I'm, not to sound vain or anything, pretty good looking."

"Yeah sure, and Vicky's the nicest babysitter to ever exist," Rush said as she rolled her eyes.

"That was cold," Nick said.

"So what? Siblings are suppose to fight," Rush said as she placed her hands behind her head in her strange fashion.

"This is taking way too long!" Sonic complained, "Where's this stupid hotel anyway?"

"Chill Sonic, we'd take the faster ways but most of you guys would probably puke at the speeds those things go," Rush said plainly, "But we do have a slightly faster way of getting around."

"What's that?" Double D asked.

"We're stepping onto it now."

Double D then noticed that they were now stepping onto the strange blue sidewalk with a white arrow on it. Rush turned around and made sure everyone was on the strange sidewalk before reaching for her strange watch again. After about ten seconds she said,

"Activating sidewalk, now."

The ground under them gave a sudden jerk and the sidewalk started moving.

"Surprised? Most people are when they first enter the Freedom Zone," Flame said.

"I'm just curious but, what did you mean by "in charge of half of the Freedom Zone", if you don't mind my asking," Double D said.

"Oh that, Rush controls one half of the Freedom Zone and Flame controls the other half. They're the only candidates that can do this line of work and control an entire mini-nation at the same time," Nick explained. "They have their own sets of rules and everything but they really are pretty cool places to live."

"What's so great about them?" Eddy asked.

"Well, Rush rakes equality to heart and doesn't stand any kind of discrimination in the least. If she catches you breaking that rule, you're gonna get it. She also loves animals, she's turned her home into a sanctuary for all sorts of creatures. She also has a thing for sweets like candy and stuff, that's why she had the Candy Motel built, for anyone who has a sweet tooth."

"You mean it's modeled to look like candy and sweets?" Double D asked.

"No, it's hard to explain, you've gotta see it for yourself. Now, as for Flame's half of the Freedom Zone, that's where we are, it's all about fun and laughs. You can get away with just about anything… Anything but bullying and crimes, those aren't taken lightly."

"I like that," Eddy said smoothly.

"Okay, this is taking too long," Rush said out of the blue.

She did a few more things with her watch before turning to the others and saying,

"I think that should speed things up a bit."

Sonic looked around and noticed the sudden change in speed first.

"Uh, is it me or is this things moving way faster?" he asked.

Double D looked around to that they had more than tripled in speed, making everything nothing more than blurs of sounds and colors.

"Oh no, the sidewalk isn't moving faster, we're just moving slower," Flame said.

"What? How is that possible?" Double D asked.

"Oh, we just slowed down the molecules that make us up so that we can seemingly get there faster, it's all a work of science," Rush explained in one breath.

"But you said the physics of this dimension are-"

"I know what I said, but we combine those unstable physics with science, magic and alchemy. That's what makes us so successful, the fact that we use every resource known to all species," Rush said with a shrug.

"Yeah, we're weird like that," Flame said, "But then again, if we were normal, we wouldn't have this job."

"So when are we getting to this Candy Motel?" Eddy asked.

"We're reaching the Boarder Building now, it's the only thing that separates the two areas," Flame said as he pointed to a large building.

It was metallic blue with windows in several rows. The main part of the building was at least one hundred stories high, with a large clock in the middle near the top. The clock read nine thirty-six. On the left and right the building stretched about two thousand yards with forty floors.

"This building marks the boarder, as I already said but you have to go through it to get to either side. Rush and I usually stay on our own turf except when we have work," Flame explained.

"Matt, aren't you forgetting something else?" Rush asked, "Our base perhaps?"

"Oh yeah, guys look up!"

The group did indeed look up. The floating building they had seen was right over the Boarder Building.

"That's our base, it's where everything involving the World Wanderers is taken care of," Rush said with a proud tone.

"Enough of that, let's get to the Candy Motel," Flame said.

Once the sidewalk came to a stop, they stepped off of it. Judging by the fact that everything was back to normal speed, their molecules must have returned to normal.

"Keep up, it's easy to get lost in there," Rush warned.

Most of the heroes nodded and followed them through the front doors. Rush was right it was a very busy place. Going in several different directions were humans and creatures that none of them had ever seen before.

"Hurry, you don't wanna get lost in here, you could very well get yourself in one of our cells by mistake if you take a wrong turn," Flame now warned them.

"That or stuck with the zombies we have to deal with," Rush said as she placed her hands behind her head and rolling her eyes.

"Zombies?!" Ed asked excitedly.

"Zombies?" came from everyone else in fear.

"Oh yeah, zombies, ghosts, vampires, demons, aliens, gremlins, the list goes on and on and on. And we only deal with most of those when work is slow, real slow."

"If you call dealing with zombies a slow day, then I'd hate to see a busy day for you guys," Eddy said.

"That usually consists of madmen trying to destroy mankind, inter-dimensional threats, time travel and studying," Flame said.

"Studying?" Hotshot asked.

"Yeah, even though we have work we have to keep it secret from our world's public eye to avoid panic of invasion because not many of them have the same open minds that we have. Only the highest levels of the governments know about our little "project", we can't even tell our parents," Rush said with another roll of her eyes.

"Then where do they think you are?" Double D asked as he avoided getting run into by a female bounty hunter dress in a skin-tight blue mecha-suit.

"Boarding school," all three of them droned.

"Oh."

By the time they reached the other end of the building, Eddy was positive someone had nearly tried to step on him three times. At the very end was a mirror image of the entrance they had come into. Stepping outside, they saw a peaceful suburban town but there was something different from it and Peach Creek. The roads were made of bricks and the houses were small and simple with at about two or three floors. Like the other half of the Freedom Zone, there were mechanical sidewalks. Everyone stepped onto the sidewalk and stayed quiet during the five-minute-old ride. Even Sonic wasn't the least bit jittery.

"There it is now," Nick said pointing as he broke the silence.

They came to a sudden stop and with those not on the sidewalk moving at a normal pace, Double D figured they must have been back to normal speed. That was only on his mind for a few seconds until he saw the building in front of them. It was a pale yellow, with a giant chocolate bar laid on its side near the front on the right side, a giant pink lollypop on the left with a vanilla ice cream cone standing up next to the lollypop.

"Boys, would be so kind as to getting these guys registered? I'm gonna be at the hot chocolate river."

Before her teammates could even answer, Rush took off through the glass double doors running the same way Eddy did.

"Hey, I want hot chocolate too!" Flame called. "Man, one of these days."

"Um guys, why does this place smell of chocolate and cotton candy?" Nazz asked.

"Because it's made outta giant candy," Nick said bluntly.

There was a moment of silence.

"Yeah right, there's no way that candy can be that big," Eddy said as he jabbed his thumb towards the large chocolate bar.

"Wanna put yer money where yer mouth is?" Flame asked before walking up to the large chocolate bar.

"Sure, why not?" Eddy asked.

Flame grabbed a hold of the chocolate bar and broke a piece the size of his hand off.

"Open wide and say "chocolate" Eddy," Flame said.

"Wait, I thought you were kidding!" Eddy said.

"Nope, now open up," Flame said. His eyes were now closed and looked like upside down Vs like this.

"If you think I'm gonna-"

Eddy was cut off when Flame shoved the piece of chocolate into Eddy's mouth.

"'EY! WAUZZ DA BIG IDEA?" Eddy yelled through a mouthful of chocolate.

"To prove the chocolate's real, taste," Flame said.

"Why I oughta… Hey, this is real chocolate!"

"Told ya. And the best part is that it regenerates so you can have more," Flame said calmly.

"You wouldn't happen to have any jawbreakers here would ya?" Eddy asked before he swallowed the chocolate.

"Does this place have jawbreakers? Please, the entire party room is made of jawbreakers."

That was all that was needed to get the Peach Creek kids inside almost as fast as Sonic could run.

"New record," Flame smirked before he too entered the hotel.

Nick and the Mobians followed them.


End file.
